Online ride-share service InDrive, known for its bid-based business model, has launched an investment and M&A arm which has up to $100m to play with.
InDrive’s New Ventures unit will be run by Andries Smit, who has held roles at start-ups and corporates, including Morgan Stanley and Aviva.
"Our main focus is on high-growth companies in mobility and adjacencies, but if we see an excellent company in another sector that makes strategic sense, we will look at it also," Smit says. 'Adjacencies' could mean sectors such as delivery, for example.
The company says its investments "will focus on rapid growth and positive community impact".
Intriguingly, one of its criteria for investment is "a mission that challenges injustice, improving the lives of individuals and communities".
Others are potential for global expansion and rapid organic growth, as well as healthy cash flow.
Mark Loughran, President of inDrive, says: “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."
He praised Smit's "unique blend of corporate and venture building experience" which will help InDrive "surpass our investment goals".
Smit adds: "By investing in emerging companies innovating to improve people’s lives, inDrive further strengthens its commitment to challenging injustice by helping successful, but overlooked start-ups."
InDrive will use "its presence and fast growth in these emerging markets that have much weaker access to capital markets than developed countries", he adds.
InDrive enables passengers and drivers to negotiate and agree on the price of each ride. Headquartered in California, its app has been downloaded over 200 million times, which InDrive says makes it the "second-most downloaded mobility app in 2022".
As well as ride-hail, it provides what it calls "urban services" including intercity transportation, freight delivery, task assistance, courier delivery and employment search.
