In a recent briefing with analysts, Grab chief operating officer Alex Hungate said Move It, which was relaunched in 2023, continues to “display strong momentum.”
“Today, Move It users comprise almost a third of mobility MTUs [monthly transacting users] in the Philippines, underpinning the strong growth of mobility MTUs in the Philippines, which grew 92 percent year-on-year,” Hungate said during the briefing.
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The comments on Move It, acquired by Grab two years ago, provide a rare glimpse into the highly competitive motorcycle taxi segment, where the company is up against established players like Angkas.
Filipino commuters have turned to services like Grab and Move It to supplement the lack of adequate public transport facilities in urban areas such as Metro Manila and Cebu.
“We balance this growth of affordable ride-hailing solutions with high value differentiated services that further maximize convenience and reliability for the less price sensitive users,” Hungate said during the briefing.
Surging demand drove Grab’s Philippine revenues higher during this period.
Parent firm Grab Holdings Ltd., which is listed on the US Nasdaq exchange, said Philippine revenues grew 37.5 percent to $121 million or about P6.8 billion.
Hungate underscored competitive pressures on the company’s bottom line, but he explained this was part of Grab’s broader strategy to increase market share over profitability.
During the briefing, he mentioned the growth of its so-called Saver rides and Move It resulted in lower earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization during the second quarter of the year.
“This was in line with our expectations as we made a strategic decision in the quarter to prudently invest to deepen market penetration and drive growth for the longer term,” he said.
Philippine driver cash advances at record high
The company is also able to capitalize on other means of growth through its financial services and lending business.
In the Philippines, this is largely made through cash advances to drivers in its ecosystem.
“So the expansion of Move It has resulted in nearly a twofold increase in our active driver supply pool year-on-year,” he said.
“So that enables us to drive cross-sell opportunities to other Grab services such as lending. We saw Philippines driver cash advances hitting a new monthly record high in June,” he added.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
