Grab and Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust broke ground for the former’s new headquarters at one-north business park on Friday (March 29) morning.

The new building will house Grab’s largest R&D centre as well as some 3,000 employees.

“Our new headquarters represents our long-term commitment to Singapore and the region; the new space will cater to our evolving business demands as we continue to innovate and use technology to meet our customers’ daily needs,” says Lim Kell Jay, Grab Singapore’s country head.

Grab also launched its second batch of Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) programme targeted at post-seed start-ups. Introduced in June 2018, the programme allows start-ups to test and commercialise their solutions with Grab’s customer base.

Applications are open until May 15 to start-ups across Southeast Asia.