Anthony Tan was born in Kuala Lumpur in 1982 and grew up around his father's Nissan distributor, Tan Chong Motor. At 11 he traded X-Men comics for a profit. He chose not to join the family firm.
At Harvard Business School, his taxi app plan won second prize at the 2011 New Venture Competition. He and Tan Hooi Ling launched MyTeksi in Malaysia in 2012 with a $25,000 school grant and his own capital.
It became GrabTaxi in 2013 and Grab in January 2016, with headquarters in Singapore. In March 2018 Grab took over Uber's Southeast Asian business, and Uber received 27.5% of Grab.
Grab listed on Nasdaq in December 2021 through a merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. It cut about 1,000 jobs, 11% of staff, in 2023, and posted its first full-year profit in early 2026.