Grab (GRAB) Q3 2025: On-Demand GMV Jumps 24% as Platform Flywheel Accelerates
Grab delivered a decisive surge in on-demand gross merchandise value (GMV), up 24% year-on-year, powered by product-led growth and disciplined cost control. The company’s multi-segment platform continues to deepen user engagement, with both mobility and delivery segments reaching record levels and financial services scaling rapidly. Management’s raised profitability guidance and margin expansion signal confidence in the platform’s operating leverage and resilience heading into 2026.
Summary
- Platform Flywheel Gains Speed: Product-led innovations and affordability initiatives drove user growth and higher transaction frequency.
- Margin Expansion Across Segments: Mobility and deliveries both achieved sequential margin improvement, bolstered by disciplined cost management.
- Financial Services Momentum: Loan book acceleration and improving credit models support a clear path to segment break-even.
Performance Analysis
Grab’s Q3 2025 results underscore an inflection in platform scale and profitability, with group adjusted EBITDA up 51% year-on-year and on-demand GMV climbing 24%. The company added nearly 6 million monthly transacting users (MTUs), reaching 48 million, as product-led initiatives such as Saver Deliveries and Grab Bike Saver attracted new cohorts, particularly younger and cost-conscious demographics. Daily transaction growth outpaced monthly user growth, reflecting increased engagement and frequency.
Segment performance was broad-based: Deliveries GMV grew 26% and mobility rose 20%, both contributing to record segment highs. Financial services revenue jumped 40%, with the loan book hitting a $3.5 billion annualized run rate and strong risk-adjusted returns above cost of capital. Operating leverage improved, with regional corporate costs rising just 8% and 150 basis points of margin improvement, as management balanced investment in growth with cost discipline.
- Cost Structure Leverage: Regional corporate costs increased just 8%, driving 150 basis points of operating leverage improvement.
- Financial Services Scaling: Loan dispersals up 56% year-on-year, with robust credit model maturation and expanding inclusion of underbanked users.
- Advertising as Margin Driver: Advertising revenue penetration increased, with active advertisers and spend per advertiser both rising double digits.
Management raised full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance and signaled confidence in exiting 2025 at record GMV levels, citing a strong Q4 seasonal tailwind and ongoing product innovation. The flywheel effect—new user acquisition, cross-sell, and frequency gains—continues to accelerate, positioning Grab for sustained growth and improving margins into 2026.
Executive Commentary
"Our growth was a key standout this quarter, accelerating to new records as product-led innovations drove nearly a 6 million year-over-year increase in monthly transacting users to 48 million. This fueled a 24% year-on-year increase in on-demand GMV or 20% on a constant currency basis. At the same time, we continue to maintain cost discipline and leverage our ecosystem scale to drive profitable growth."
Anthony Tan, Chief Executive Officer
"You've got nice momentum just overall from the top line side. But also at the same time, we continue to be very disciplined on our cost structure. You see our regional corporate costs increasing only 8% on a year-over-year basis. But what's more important now that we're seeing about 150 basis points improvement in operating leverage as a percentage of revenue of our regional corporate costs. And that's critical as we continue to make sure that we're spending in the right areas."
Peter Owee, Chief Financial Officer
Strategic Positioning
1. Product-Led Growth and Affordability Strategy
Grab’s focus on product-led growth—delivering new features and pricing tiers—continues to expand the platform’s reach and deepen frequency. Initiatives like Saver Deliveries and Grab Executive cater to both value-conscious and premium segments, while cross-sell features such as GrabMore (grocery add-ons to food orders) drive incremental order value and stickiness. The flywheel effect is visible in both user acquisition and rising transaction frequency, with daily transaction growth outpacing monthly user growth.
2. Multi-Segment Platform and Ecosystem Synergies
The company’s ecosystem approach leverages mobility, deliveries, and financial services to create multiple touchpoints for users and partners. Grab Unlimited, a paid subscription program, now represents over 20% of delivery MTUs and supports recurring engagement. Financial services, including digital lending, benefit from proprietary data for credit underwriting, enabling access to underbanked populations and supporting the broader platform mission of financial inclusion.
3. Margin Expansion and Cost Discipline
Disciplined cost management and operating leverage are driving margin improvement across segments. Both mobility and deliveries achieved sequential margin gains, with deliveries margin on track for 4%+ and mobility for 9%+. Advertising is emerging as a structural margin driver, with active advertiser growth and higher spend per advertiser, especially as GrabMart scales and attracts more FMCG clients.
4. Capital Allocation and Strategic Investment
Grab’s capital allocation framework prioritizes organic growth, selective M&A, and shareholder returns, supported by a strong cash balance and positive free cash flow. Investments in the loan book deliver returns above cost of capital, while strategic bets in autonomous vehicles (AVs) and remote driving are intended to secure long-term technology leadership in Southeast Asia, even as AV adoption lags due to regional labor cost dynamics.
5. Resilience to Macro and Competitive Headwinds
Management emphasized the platform’s counter-cyclical resilience, noting that economic uncertainty drives supply growth (more gig partners) and supports affordability initiatives. Competitive dynamics, particularly in Indonesia, remain intense, but Grab’s multi-tiered product and pricing strategy is sustaining both share gains and margin improvement.
Key Considerations
Grab’s Q3 results highlight a platform executing with discipline and innovation, but several strategic levers will determine the durability of growth and margin expansion into 2026:
Key Considerations:
- GMV Growth Sustainability: Product-led viral growth, cross-sell, and low MTU penetration suggest further runway, but normalization of growth rates is likely as the base scales.
- Margin Progression Mix: Deliveries margin expansion depends on balancing high-growth, lower-margin GrabMart with more mature food delivery and advertising monetization.
- Financial Services Risk: Loan book scaling is driving returns, but credit loss provisions must be closely managed as new customer cohorts are onboarded.
- Capital Deployment Discipline: Continued focus on high-return organic investment and measured M&A will be critical as cash balances grow.
- Competitive Intensity: Indonesia and other markets remain highly contested, requiring ongoing product and pricing innovation to defend share and margin.
Risks
Grab faces risks from intensifying competition in key markets, particularly Indonesia, and from macroeconomic volatility that could affect consumer spending or partner supply. Rapid expansion of the loan book introduces credit risk, especially as models are tested with new underbanked segments. Margin expansion may be pressured if product launches or market pushes require elevated incentives or investment, while AV-related investments carry long-term uncertainty given the slow path to regional adoption.
Forward Outlook
For Q4, Grab guided to:
- Sequential on-demand GMV growth, with both mobility and deliveries on track to exit at record levels
- Group adjusted EBITDA raised to $490–500 million for full-year 2025
For full-year 2025, management raised guidance:
- On-demand GMV growth to accelerate from 2024 levels
- Financial services loan book to exceed $1 billion by year-end
Management emphasized continued focus on affordability, reliability, and accessibility, with Q4 typically the strongest seasonal quarter. Margin expansion and profitable growth are expected to continue into 2026, though Q1 is flagged as seasonally softer.
- Product innovation and cross-sell to drive new user acquisition and spend
- Margin expansion to continue, especially in deliveries and financial services
Takeaways
Grab’s Q3 2025 results reinforce its position as Southeast Asia’s leading super-app platform, with multi-segment growth, product innovation, and operating leverage driving both top-line and margin inflection.
- Platform-Driven Momentum: Product-led growth, affordability, and cross-sell are unlocking new user segments and transaction frequency, supporting sustained GMV and revenue growth.
- Margin and Cash Flow Trajectory: Operating leverage, advertising monetization, and disciplined cost control are delivering consistent margin expansion and improved free cash flow.
- 2026 Watchpoints: Investors should monitor normalization of growth rates, margin mix as GrabMart scales, and credit risk management in financial services as the platform continues to expand its user base and loan book.
Conclusion
Grab’s Q3 2025 performance reflects a platform firing on multiple cylinders, with record user and GMV growth, steadily improving margins, and a clear path to further profitability. Strategic discipline and product innovation remain central as the company enters 2026 with momentum and resilience.
Industry Read-Through
Grab’s results provide a clear read-through for Southeast Asia’s digital economy: super-app platforms with multi-segment integration and data-driven cross-sell are capturing outsized growth and margin expansion. The success of affordability-driven user acquisition and viral product features signals that growth is increasingly endogenous, not incentive-dependent. Financial services inclusion and proprietary credit models are becoming a critical differentiator for platforms with rich data ecosystems. For peers in mobility, delivery, and fintech, Grab’s portfolio approach and disciplined capital allocation set a benchmark for scaling profitably in a competitive, high-growth region.