According to people familiar with the matter, Singapore-based GrabTaxi will raise up to $2 billion from Softbank Group and Didi Chuxing. The transaction is likely to be completed in the next few weeks, and GrabTaxi's valuation exceeds 5 billion US dollars, which will make GrabTaxi the most valued startup in Southeast Asia.

Investors before GrabTaxi included venture capital fund ggv capital and China investment fund Gaoyou Capital. The latest round of financing was completed last year, when it received $750 million from Softbank.

Neither Uber nor GrabTaxi disclosed the number of users, but data from App Annie, a mobile application analysis company, shows that GrabTaxi's application is more popular than Uber in many Southeast Asian countries. GrabTaxi provides private cars, taxis, motorcycles and carpooling services, covering more Southeast Asian cities than Uber.

Uber has differences with many regulators and taxi associations around the world. Unlike Uber, GrabTaxi said that it is working closely with regulators and even established cooperative relations with local taxi companies. GrabTaxi recently started to provide mobile payment services.

The taxi market in Southeast Asia is not dominated by these two taxi applications. In Indonesia, Uber and GrabTaxi face competition from GoJek, a fast-growing local startup. GoJek is good at providing taxi service for motorcycles, and has expanded to food, parcel delivery and cleaning services.

GrabTaxi was founded on 20 12 and has been put into operation in 65 cities in 7 countries. "We will not comment on any market rumors or speculations," said a GrabTaxi spokesman.

Spokesmen for Softbank and Didi declined to comment.