inDrive launches $100million new venture for startups
inDrive, a global mobility and urban services platform, has announced the launch of a new venture with the goal of investing up to 100 million dollars in promising startups.
Andries Smit, Vice President, New Ventures, inDrive, on Monday in Lagos via a statement, said investments would focus on rapid growth and positive community impact.
According to him, 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.
Smit stated that the investment criteria included mission that challenges injustice, improving the lives of individuals and communities, local market startups with potential for global expansion.
He said this bold step would further help strengthen inDrive’s commitment to challenge injustice by helping successful, but overlooked startups.
“Once an underdog and now a global company, inDrive is certainly an investor to watch as the team has achieved rapid global growth while remaining committed to its mission of challenging injustice.
“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 said.
President, inDrive, Mark Loughran, said that the mission at the heart of new ventures is to find overlooked, high-growth startups that might be operating outside of traditional innovation hub regions, and support their development to increase their positive impact.
Loughran stated that the newly appointed Vice President, Andries Smit, had a unique blend of corporate and venture-building experience.
This, he said, made him a perfect fit to lead new ventures, adding that he remained confident that the energy and experience he brought would help us surpass inDrive’s investment goals.
