inDrive, an international internet aggregator of passenger, freight, and intercity transportation services, has launched a new venture and merger and acquisition division named New Ventures, to invest up to $100 million in startups within emerging markets over the next few years.
The new venture arm comes four months after inDrive in July this year, announced its official launch in South Florida, the company’s first U.S. market. inDrive disclosed that it chose South Florida as it is a market eagerly seeking better transportation alternatives.
According to inDrive, the newly launched investment is focused on several aspects. This includes, Challenging Injustice: A mission-driven approach to improving lives Local to Global: Investing in startups with potential for global expansion, Post-Seed/Pre-Series A: Backing companies with proven product-market fit, Rapid Organic Growth: Focusing on startups with flourishing economics and cash flow.
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Announcing the new venture, the company wrote on X,
“We’re excited to share a great initiative in our journey towards a more just and innovative future! Today, we proudly unveil our latest initiative – New Ventures, an M&A arm set to invest in trailblazing startups that champion the cause of challenging injustice.
“Investment Focus:
• Challenging Injustice: A mission-driven approach to improving lives.
• Local to Global: Investing in startups with potential for global expansion.
• Post-Seed/Pre-Series A: Backing companies with proven product-market fit.
• Rapid Organic Growth: Focusing on startups with flourishing economics and cash flow.
“Our mission is to not just invest but to foster a community of impactful startups. With the backing of New Ventures, companies gain more than just financial support – they tap into a global customer base, access cutting-edge technology, and leverage our go-to-market expertise”.
InDrive will be investing vertically and horizontally in the ride-hail industry, with an eye toward either acquiring or using the services of those companies.
The company’s New Ventures unit is dedicated to helping investee and acquired companies scale quickly across its platform. These companies are set to gain a competitive edge by tapping into inDrive’s global multi-million customer base across 45+ markets, and access to the company’s go-to-market know-how and technology.
The New Ventures unit will largely provide capital to post-seed/Series A-stage companies that can demonstrate substantial year-over-year growth exceeding 2-3x. inDrive says its New Ventures unit will help its portfolio and acquired companies scale quickly across its main ride-hailing platform.
inDrive, which originated in Russia, was recognized as the world’s fastest ride-hailing app in 2022. The app achieved rapid growth in 2022, with an 88% year-on-year increase in gross revenue. The company’s country count reached 47, up from 37 in 2021, as it expanded its team by 1,000 in 2022 to reach 2,700 employees located across 17 offices worldwide.
About inDrive
inDrive is a global mobility and urban services platform headquartered in Mountain View, California. With over 150 million downloads, the inDrive app is the second most downloaded mobility application in the world. In addition to ride-hailing, inDrive provides an expanding list of urban services, including intercity transportation, cargo and freight delivery, task assistance, delivery, and employment search.
inDrive operates in more than 700 cities across 47 countries, where it supports local communities via its peer-to-peer payment model and its community empowerment programs, which help advance education, sports, arts and sciences, gender equality, and other vital initiatives.