California-based inDrive, a ride-hailing app, has secured an additional $150 million after securing a similar deal back in 2023. With this, the total agreement with General Catalyst is now $300 million.
With the latest financing arrangement, inDrive is poised for further growth in 2024. The financing extension will be used to enhance its financial flexibility, enabling the company to bolster growth, invest in product improvements, expand its service offerings, and enter new markets.
Bid-based ride-hailing platform
Arsen Tomsky founded inDrive back in 2012 in Russia but moved its base to the US. It was introduced with a unique concept allowing customers to set their fares. This unique concept was welcomed by people. With the offered fare, consumers will receive ride requests from the drivers on which they can pick the one ride to reach the destination.
The inDrive app allows users to select the driver based on the ratings and previously completed trip insights to get a better experience. Consumers can pay directly to the cab driver without snooping with the mediator. This bid-based platform lets commuters name their fare for a ride and drivers in the vicinity accept, decline, or counter this fare.
This approach brought a paradigm shift in the market wherein ride-hail customers were facing higher fares and drivers were classified as independent contractors but had no control on how much they charge for rides. However, the challenge faced due to this is long wait times for riders or constant declines from riders.
Achievements in 2023
This announcement comes on the heels of a successful year for inDrive, which saw a 54% growth in net revenue in 2023. These results continue to demonstrate the company’s robust growth trajectory and its strategic utilisation of flexible financing to scale operations sustainably.
Also, venturing into the VC sector, inDrive announced the launch of a new venture and M&A arm, New Ventures in 2023. It aims to invest up to $100 million in promising startups.
It is available in 46 countries and was recently recognised as the second most downloaded ride-hailing app for the second consecutive year and ranked among the top-5 most downloaded travel apps globally.
Dmitry Sedov, CFO at inDrive, highlighted the strategic importance of this financing: “Securing this financing from General Catalyst empowers us to continue our rapid growth and innovation while maintaining a strong financial position and financial flexibility. This financial structure is designed to support our ambitious plans without introducing additional risk to our operations. We are grateful for the confidence General Catalyst has shown in our mission and strategy, as we strive to make mobility accessible for communities around the globe.”
Pranav Singhvi, Managing Director, General Catalyst said: “As long time partners with inDrive, we are excited to help them continue to scale their growth and set the company up for success as they enter new markets. We are enthusiastic about supporting a business with a robust mission that positively impacts communities globally”.
