m the same period a year ago and the company’s seventeenth consecutive quarter of EBITDA growth. Monthly transacting users reached 51.6 million, a 16 per cent increase year-on-year. “This was against the backdrop of our seasonally softest quarter, where the Ramadan fasting month and Lunar New Year festivities typically lead to lower demand and supply for our business,” Tan said.  Flywheel turning faster The combined gross merchandise value of Grab’s deliveries and mobility segments rose to US$6.1 billion in the quarter, with deliveries growing 25 per cent and mobility growing 23 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, financial services saw revenue jump 43 per cent to US$107 million.  Southeast Asia has been grappling with a regional surge in fuel prices. For a company whose model depends on millions of driver-partners filling their tanks daily, that is an operational pressure point with no easy fix. “We moved quickly in March to help drivers navigate the sharp increases in fuel prices we saw in most markets across the region,” said Alex Hungate, president and COO of Grab.  “Initiatives included launching multi-partner fuel discount programs, restructuring incentive models toward per-trip cash back to maximise driver earnings on every job, and working directly with governments to ensure our partners were registered for available transport-worker fuel subsidies.” This week, the company became the first platform to offer point-to-point cross-border taxi services between Singapore and Malaysia, one of the busiest international land border crossings globally, handling an average of 500,000 daily land crossings. Outside the comfort zone During the quarter, the company agreed to acquire Delivery Hero’s foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan for US$600 million in cash, the company’s first expansion beyond Southeast Asia in its 14-year history. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of this year. Once it’s completed, Grab will have a presence across 21 cities. The deal comes roughly a year after Uber Technologies abandoned its planned acquisition of Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations, following Taiwan’s antitrust regulator’s blocking of the deal over competition concerns. Unlike that attempted consolidation, Grab’s entry introduces a new operator into the market rather than combining the two dominant local players. If the deal closes, Grab would hold a market share of just over 50 per cent, positioning it as a stronger competitor to Uber Eats rather than creating a near-monopoly. Looking ahead Full-year guidance was left unchanged with revenue of US$4.04 billion to US$4.10 billion, representing 20 per cent to 22 per cent growth, and adjusted EBITDA of US$700 million to US$720 million, representing 40 per cent to 44 per cent growth. The company said it expects sequential on-demand GMV growth in each of the remaining quarters of this year. “Demand trends in April have remained resilient, as our efforts to improve affordability, reliability, and earning opportunities across our ecosystem continue to bear fruit,” Tan said. “While we have seen some softness in our mobility business, particularly in the Philippines, we are also a net beneficiary in other markets, with our deliveries business hitting record numbers of daily transacting users in April.” Further reading: Grab’s Taiwan gamble: Can a Southeast Asian giant win abroad?