6. Grab

Just another rideshare unicorn ...

Founders: Tan Hooi Ling, Anthony Tan (CEO)
Launched: 2012
Headquarters: Singapore
Funding:
$4 billion+
Valuation: $6 billion (PitchBook)
Key technologies:
Artificial intelligence, machine learning
Disrupting:
Public transportation, taxi and limousine services

George Kavallines | CNBC

In what looks like a pattern, ride-hailing company Grab announced in late March that it had acquired Uber's Southeast Asia operations. In 2016 Didi Chuxing bought Uber's business in China. The Grab deal will integrate Uber's ridesharing and food-delivery business in the region onto Grab's platform, which includes operations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, among others. In return Uber will take a 27.5 percent stake in Grab, and Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO, will join Grab's board.

Read More: FULL LIST: 2018 DISRUPTOR 50

Six-year-old Grab was started by Harvard Business School classmates Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling. According to the company, the Grab app has been downloaded onto more than 95 million mobile devices, giving passengers access to over 6 million drivers and independent contractors in 209 cities across eight Southeast Asian countries.

Grab's fintech platform, Grab Financial, offers their customers cashless payments. That's key, because a high percentage of the population in Southeast Asia still has no access to traditional banking and services are lacking, so the company is optimistic their financial unit will grow quickly. Grab has raised a little more than $4 billion so far from investors, including Hyundai Motor, Softbank Capital and China's Didi Chuxing.