With senior hires from Facebook, Amazon and Palantir Technologies, Singapore is slated to become GrabTaxi’s technology hub.
The GrabTaxi R&D Centre is located at 138 Cecil Street, Cecil Court, Singapore 069538.
GrabTaxi, one of Southeast Asia’s largest mobile phone transport app, has opened its first Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Singapore.
This will become GrabTaxi’s technology hub and it will house the majority of its technical staff and engineers from around the world.
The 4500 sq. ft. centre is located in the heart of Singapore’s bustling Central Business District and will eventually house 200 engineers and data scientists, which is a specialised role focused on analysing data and spotting trends from multiple data sources.
This US$100 million investment over a few years is a milestone for Southeast Asian startups as very few brands – local or regional – has made such a significant investment in technology infrastructure and talent based out of Singapore.
Eventually, 200 engineers and data scientists will occupy the 4,500 sq. ft. GrabTaxi R&D Centre.
The R&D Centre reinforces GrabTaxi’s commitment to the region and an acknowledgment that Southeast Asia has the infrastructure and capacity to become a global technology hub.
“Singapore was the logical choice for us when we first started planning this R&D Centre. The strong existing infrastructure and conducive business environment are ideal for us to build and develop this global pool of talent,” said Tan.
A significant portion of GrabTaxi’s US$100 million investment in technology will be used to hire talent from across the world to join the GrabTaxi team.
The R&D Centre will be headed by Wei Zhu, GrabTaxi’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), who was formerly head of the Facebook engineering team that developed Facebook Connect.
Other senior hires in GrabTaxi include Kevin Lee as Vice President, Data and Growth at GrabTaxi.
Formerly Head of Asia for Palantir Technologies, an American software and services company focused on data analysis, Kevin started and grew Palantir’s Asia business in Singapore.
“GrabTaxi offers a unique opportunity for engineers to work on meaningful problems that has a huge impact on the world outside of the more traditional places like Silicon Valley in the US. The challenges of the Asian market and the exciting nature of the business provide a chance for passionate people to be part of the fastest growing startup in Southeast Asia,” said Wei Zhu, head of the R&D Centre.
Also coming on board, will be co-founder of GrabTaxi, Tan Hooi Ling, who rejoins the company to handle Expansion and New Services after a two year stint at Salesforce in the US.
Also joining the senior management team as the Vice President of Engineering is Arul Kumaravel.
Formerly from Amazon, Arul led the product vision, strategy and development of Amazon Mobile Platform and Shopping application.
Under his leadership, the customer base grew significantly to hundreds of million customers and generated a significant percentage of Amazon’s retail business revenue.
“Data analytics is an important capability that will boost the growth for companies in Singapore. We are pleased that GrabTaxi has decided to base its R&D Centre here to develop analytics-related applications for its business. With the rise of the digital economy, EDB is confident that the Centre will further contribute to the host of exciting new jobs that are being created in Singapore,” said Thien Kwee Eng, Assistant Managing Director, Economic Development Board.
GrabTaxi is also giving software engineers from around the world the chance to experience firsthand what it is like to work with the team.
Qualified and shortlisted software engineers will be given the opportunity to fly down to the new R&D Centre in Singapore.
To be shortlisted, visit GrabTaxi’s careers page to apply for a position.
Currently in 20 cities across 6 countries, GrabTaxi has grown exponentially since its launch in 2012 and currently has over 3.8 million downloads and over 75,000 vehicles under its network across the region.
There are more than 7 bookings made every second using the GrabTaxi app.
Tags: Apps, events, GrabTaxi, R&D, Singapore, taxi, transport, travel