Grab launches e-wallet for eateries, retail shops in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Ride-hailing firm Grab launched its GrabPay digital wallet for hawker stalls, restaurants and shops in Singapore, making its latest big push into electronic payments as part of its efforts to expand beyond transportation services.

Grab, which competes with Uber Technologies, said it will launch the GrabPay wallet across Southeast Asia in 2018.

"Enabling Grab payments in restaurants and shops is a significant step towards becoming the largest consumer internet platform in Southeast Asia," Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab., said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

Grab has previously said payments would be a focus for the company and that it was open to further acquisitions after buying an Indonesian online payments startup earlier this year.

Last month it launched a peer-to-peer payments service.