# Grab buys its way into BNPL

> A $1.49 billion bet that Southeast Asia's unbanked will borrow through a ride-hailing app.
- Title: Grab buys its way into BNPL · Pymnts | Shortify
- Summary: A $1.49 billion bet that Southeast Asia's unbanked will borrow through a ride-hailing app. Grab is buying distribution and an AI underwriting engine to lend…
- Keywords: bnpl, grab, southeast asia, fintech, acquisitions, business, finance, buys, way, Pymnts
- Source: Pymnts — https://pymnts.com/bnpl/2026/grab-enters-bnpl-space-with-1-4-billion-atome-acquisition
- Author: PYMNTS
- Published: 2026-09-15T13:21:09+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: bnpl, grab, southeast asia, fintech, acquisitions, business, finance
## Grab takes control of Atome
Grab Holdings is buying a controlling stake in Singapore BNPL provider Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, announced Tuesday, Sept. 15.
## What comes in the box
Atome brings BNPL loans and cards, consumer loans and digital lending. All of it folds into Grab's existing financial services arm.
## Five countries, 25 million users
Atome runs in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, with 25 million cumulative transacted users to hand over.
## The AI underwriting prize
Grab's president Alex Hungate points at Atome's AI models as the real asset: lending to millions while keeping risk in check, plus access to its merchant network.

> Atome Financial's leading use of AI to underwrite digital lending to millions of users across the region, while managing risk effectively, will help to scale and strengthen Grab's whole ecosystem
## Credit for the shut out
Last year 68% of Grab's driver-partner borrowers got formal credit for the first time through the company. Half said they did it to avoid predatory lenders.

> we can deliver on our common vision of using technology to responsibly extend financial access to the unbanked and underbanked
## Heavy users want longer terms
PYMNTS Intelligence found 82% of people using four or more BNPL providers would pay interest for a longer repayment schedule, against 46% of single-provider users.

> The gap suggests that BNPL's most active customers could provide a natural market for longer-duration credit
## Key takeaway

Grab is buying distribution and an AI underwriting engine to lend to people banks won't touch, and BNPL's heaviest users are ready to pay interest for longer terms.