Tracing Uber's and Grab's path to profitability

Check out our top articles for the week. [Read from your browser]( Top Stories of the Week Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Sunday newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community by [registering here](. Hello {NAME} It has been said that history is written by the victors. To that, one can add "and profit is made by the winners." From Uber in the US to Grab in Southeast Asia, dominant mobility and food delivery platforms are finding their stride and hitting various profitability metrics - "finally," some would say. Meanwhile, shares of Lyft - Uber’s ride-hailing rival in the US - fell over 7% after it published its latest quarterly results, which raised concerns over its strategy to gain market share by matching Uber on pricing. It's no surprise, then, that players with smaller market shares are trying to derive benefits from scale by working with each other. In Singapore, for example, Deliveroo, one of the delivery platforms in the city-state, has teamed up with Gojek's mobility business to offer savings and rewards to customers. The bigger story, however, is about Uber and Grab and their journeys to profitability. The two are intertwined. Grab acquired Uber's Southeast Asian business in 2018, and the latter remains a significant shareholder of the former. Yet, amid the celebrations, another saying comes to mind: heavy is the head that wears the crown. When you're at the top, the only way to go is down, and incumbents will have to constantly be on the lookout for new threats. -- [Simon Huang]( journalist at Tech in Asia  --------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES THIS WEEK 1️. [Uber’s path to profit: a roadmap for Grab?]( Morgan Stanley analysts expect Grab to record [adjusted EBITDA]( of US$137 million in 2024, but that’s likely to fall short of [GAAP]( profitability. 2. [Charting the SaaS landscape in Indonesia (Updated)]( Amid the funding crunch, 2022 saw a 38% decrease in total investments for the country's SaaS sector. 3. [From living ‘hand to mouth’ to being ‘old friends’ with Ray Dalio: Ng Kok Song’s path to presidential hopeful]( Ng Kok Song has spent years as a card-carrying member of the Singapore establishment. Now, can he take on the establishment candidate for president? 4. [What GoPay’s new standalone app says about GoTo’s ‘super-app’ strategy]( The GoPay app is up to a quarter of the size of the Tokopedia and Gojek apps and sports a “simple and user-friendly” design. 5. [To build or not to build: TikTok Shop’s logistics dilemma]( Top ecommerce players in Southeast Asia have in-house logistics for both last-mile delivery and fulfillment. Should TikTok Shop follow suit? 6. [How tech destroyed Astro’s dominance in Malaysian pay-TV]( The media giant had a 20-year monopoly but is struggling to adapt to competition. 7. [Despite an Indian edtech firm’s 100% placement guarantee, students are stuck with debt and uncertainty]( More than a dozen students say they were left jobless and in debt after paying for Hero Vired's postgraduate courses. 8. [US-China tensions may be cooling, but chips remain a hot issue]( The US and China may be backing down from a full “decoupling,” but fights over chip production and supply chains still threaten the tech industry. 9. [New US order against China tech could spark debt default, war: economist]( A former IIF and IMF executive warns that US efforts to constrain China’s technological growth could lead to further economic conflict. 10. [Alibaba’s financial health in 5 charts]( We visualize the latest financial figures reported by the Chinese internet giant. --------------------------------------------------------------- TECH IN ASIA'S FOUNDERS MEETUP: INDIA  Navigating Singapore's shifting news horizons: a fireside chat with Tech in Asia's editorial experts Delve into insightful editorial discussions about the latest news and trends in Singapore led by our Tech in Asia duo COO Maria Li and tech editor Collin Furtado. 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