Grab Indonesia names comms lead for food, mart and fintech

Lucas Suryanata has joined Grab Indonesia as head of communications overseeing food (including kitchen), mart and fintech. Suryanta (pictured) confirmed the move to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

Suryanata (pictured) was previously head of external communications for close to three years at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was responsible for strategising and executing external engagement efforts and brand reputation management, issues and crisis management, media insights and monitoring, as well as providing support to other corporate affairs and brand marketing functions, his LinkedIn said. 

He also has at least five years of experience on the agency front at BCW. He started at Burson-Marsteller in 2011 and returned in 2014 before the agency merged with Cohn & Wolfe in 2018. During his time there, he helmed a variety of roles from senior manager and associate director to director. Suryanata was also head of communications at Traveloka where he oversaw the company's 360-degree communications strategy and supported the marketing team in promoting products and amplifying user experience. 

In December last year, co-founder, Anthony Tan reportedly hit billionaire status for a few hours after the company’s listing on Nasdaq before its stock slipped. According to Bloomberg, Grab rose in pre-market trading in New York and opened at US$13.06. However, approximately US$17 billion was eliminated from Grab's market value when its shares dropped more than 21% to US$8.61 on the first day. Tan’s stake, which was initially worth over US$1 billion, is now worth US$725 million, Bloomberg said. 

Grab will go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Altimeter Growth Corp, raising about US$4.5 billion in cash and valuing Grab's shares at US$39.6 billion. According to Grab, this is expected to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company. Pursuant to the proposed transactions, Altimeter Growth and Grab will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of a new holding company.

Grab first announced its plans to go public with special purpose acquisition company Altimeter Growth Corp via a merger in April last year. The merger raised approximately US$4.5 billion in cash, valuing Grab’s shares at US$39.6 billion. The ride-hailing company previously said that this is expected to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company. The US$4 billion came from private investment in public equity and among the list of companies that joined included BlackRock and Fidelity International, Bloomberg said.

Meanwhile in November last year, Grab partnered with The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia to launch a slew of Disney-themed rewards and experiences for Grab users in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. For starters, Grab Platinum users across all the markets will receive complimentary tickets to selected upcoming Disney movies such as Marvel Studios’ The Eternals, redeemable from the GrabRewards catalogue; while stocks last. 

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