inDrive’s venture capital arm to invest $100m in startups

InDrive, the global bid-based mobility platform, has launched a new venture, merger and acquisition (M&A) arm to invest up to $100 million in promising startups within emerging markets over the next few years.

This launch comes four months after InDrive launched its first U.S. market in South Florida. As InDrive works toward profitability, the company sees this as a chance to diversify revenue streams. The new ventures will be led by seasoned entrepreneur and investment professional, Andries Smit who will join the inDrive team as Vice President of New Ventures.

InDrive says its New Ventures unit will help its portfolio and acquired companies scale quickly across its main ride-hailing platform, gaining access to the company’s go-to-market know-how, technology and over 200 million active customers across more than 45 markets and 700 cities.

Speaking on the development, Andries Smit, Vice President of New Ventures at inDrive, said, “Once an underdog and now a global company, inDrive is certainly an investor to watch – the team has achieved rapid global growth while remaining committed to its mission of challenging injustice.”

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Smit further explained that investing in emerging companies such as inDrive would help a great deal to improve people’s lives. He said that this bold step would further help to strengthen its commitment to challenge 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,”.

“I’m thrilled to apply my own venture building and investing experience to help inDrive transform the lives of innovative founders hungry to scale up their successful businesses that contribute to a better world,” he added.

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InDrive’s New Ventures unit is dedicated to helping investee and acquired companies scale quickly across inDrive’s platform. These companies are set to gain a competitive edge by tapping inDrive’s global multi-million customer base across 45+ markets, and access to the company’s go-to-market know-how and technology.

Mark Loughran, President of inDrive, also stated that 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.

Loughran affirmed that the newly appointed Vice President, Andries Smit, has a unique blend of corporate and venture-building experience which makes him a perfect fit to lead New Ventures, adding that he is confident that the energy and experience he brings will help surpass the stated investment goals.