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Tim Culpan

Grab's Bonfire of the Vanities Is Just Blowing Smoke

Burning money seems to be the end more than the means in the race for taxi-hailing supremacy in Southeast Asia.

Master of the universe.

Master of the universe.

Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg
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One sentence from Grab Holdings Inc. co-founder Anthony Tan sums up the outlook for the dumpster fire that is Southeast Asia’s increasingly toxic taxi wars.

In a giddy press release Grab announced that it’s super-sizing its current funding round to $6.5 billion. Series H has already raised $4.5 billion, including $1.46 billion from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund, and it plans to collect another $2 billion before the year is out.