Global ride-hailing service inDrive has announced the launch of its venture and merger & acquisition arm New Ventures to invest up to $100 million in promising startups. The M&A arm will be headed by entrepreneur and investment professional Andries Smit as Vice President. The vertical will focus on local market startups with potential for global expansion, post-seed/pre-Series A companies with proven product market fit, rapid organic growth and healthy economics and cash flow.
InDrive said New Ventures will help startups scale quickly across inDrive’s platform and gain a competitive edge by tapping inDrive’s global multi-million customer base across over 45 markets, access to the company’s go-to-market know-how and technology.
“By investing in emerging companies innovating to improve people’s lives, inDrive further strengthens its commitment to challenging injustice by helping successful, but overlooked startups. The company is uniquely positioned to do this, leveraging its presence and fast growth in these emerging markets that have much weaker access to capital markets than developed countries,” said Smit in a statement.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, US, inDrive app was the second most downloaded mobility app in 2022. In addition to ride-hailing, inDrive provides intercity transportation, freight delivery, task assistance, courier delivery and employment search services.
Mark Loughran, President, inDrive, said, “The mission at the heart of New Ventures is to find overlooked, high-growth startups that may be operating outside of traditional innovation hub regions, and support their development to increase their positive impact.”
Launched in June 2013, inDrive achieved unicorn status in February 2021. The company forayed into India earlier this year and in April launched its same-day and on-demand service Drive.Freight to find delivery options for any over 20 kg freight.
The company said it differs from its competitors since passengers and drivers can directly negotiate the cost of a fare instead of an algorithm throwing up a price. This helps address commuters’ concerns about the excessive cost of ride-hailing services.
