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inDrive

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Suol Innovations Ltd.
  • inDrive
    (since 2022)
  • inDriver
    (2013–22)
Company typePrivate
IndustryRidesharing
FoundedJune 24, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-06-24) in Yakutsk, Russia
FounderArsen Tomsky
Headquarters,
United States
Number of employees
3000[1]
Websiteindrive.com

inDrive (previously known as inDriver), is an international ride-hailing service[2] with more than 200 million downloads operating in more that 700 cities in over 45 countries.[3][4][5] Headquartered in Mountain View, California, it is the second largest ridesharing and taxi app worldwide by downloads. The company was officially launched in 2013.[6]

It is one of the fastest growing international passenger transport services operating on the peer-to-peer pricing model.[7] In the inDrive app, all conditions of the trip are determined as a result of an agreement between passengers and drivers. inDrive works both in small towns with a population of 10 thousand inhabitants, often with weak internet and without maps of the settlement, and in the largest cities with the highest level of competition. According to OZY, the fees that inDrive takes from drivers' receipts average 5–8% of the fare, which is significantly less than other major ride-hailing services. inDrive takes 10% or less of the fare in commission, which is significantly less than other major ride-hailing services.[8][9][10] Passengers make all payments for rides directly to drivers in cash or non-cash settlements .[11] The inDrive mobile app is available on Android and iOS.

History

[edit]

inDriver was founded in 2012 in Yakutsk, one of the coldest cities in the world. The service originated when a group of local students established a collective group of "independent drivers" (i.e. inDrivers) on social media in response to a sharp increase in taxi prices when outside temperatures dropped precipitously. Members of the group shared where they wanted to go and the prices they were willing to pay, allowing drivers to in turn contact these customers and negotiate prices. One year later, the group moved to the Sinet Company which created a peer-to-peer transportation-based system based on this concept.[12][13]

In 2013, inDriver was officially launched.[14][15]

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inDrive divested its interests in the Russian market in June 2022, and relocated 1,000 employees from Russia to Kazakhstan and Cyprus.[16]

inDrive subsequently launched other services, including intercity trips, couriers, freight delivery, and inDrive.Services, which allows people to find service providers in a wide range of fields. inDrive.Services is available in Egypt,[17] Kazakhstan, Mexico,[18] Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil.[19]

International expansion

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In December 2014, inDriver expanded internationally by launching in Astana, Kazakhstan.[20]

The company entered Latin America in April 2018,[21][22][23] when the service became available in Mexico and then later in Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

In November 2018, the service became available in Africa with the launch in Arusha, Tanzania.[30]

The company announced further plans to launch services in 300 more cities in 30 countries by the end of 2019.[31]

To date, the service has expanded its business throughout Latin America, Africa, India and Southwest Asia.[32]

In 2018, the company opened a temporary office in New York City, and later, established its headquarters in Mountain View, California.[33][34][35][36][37]

It also started its operations in Pakistan by 2021 and became the most downloaded ride-hailing app in the country within a year.[38]

In June 2022, inDriver announced that it was entering the Australian market, with an initial launch in Melbourne.[39]

In July 2023, inDrive launched in the U.S., in Miami, South Florida.[40]

In November 2023, inDrive launched in the Philippine cities of Bacolod, Baguio, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Iloilo.[41] However, in January 2024, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board suspended inDrive operations in the country due to allegations of price bargaining, which violates the board's terms and conditions for accreditation as a transport company.[42]

According to data.ai, in 2023 inDrive remained the second most downloaded app in the ride-hailing category globally for the second consecutive year. inDrive also ranked fourth as the most downloaded travel app.[43][44]

Corporate development

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In February 2017 the service passed the threshold of 100 million rides booked through the InDriver mobile app. There were more than 5 million registered users at the time.[45]

In April 2020, because of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns,[46] the company suspended launches in new countries to focus on servicing its existing markets. Among other initiatives, inDriver launched its "Medical Worker On The Way" program to help healthcare workers around the world get to and from work.[47][48][49] Despite the lockdowns, however, inDriver managed to reach 50 million app-downloads in July 2020.[50]

In early 2021, inDriver achieved unicorn status after closing a $150m investment round with Insight Partners, General Catalyst, and Bond Capital, which valued the company at $1.23 billion.[51] It reached 1 billion trips in May 2021.[52]

By March 2022, inDriver had established regional operational hubs in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the CIS to support its expanding business.[53]

inDriver also offers additional services through its app, including courier services, services, cargo/freight delivery intercity transportation and job search services.[54] inDriver is the world's fastest-growing online ride-hailing and transportation services. In February 2024, inDrive launched inDrive Money, offering cash loans to drivers operating on its platform in Mexico, aiming to address the financial needs of drivers who are often excluded by traditional financial institutions.[55] The app has been downloaded more than 150 million times.

In October 2022, inDriver rebranded and became inDrive, transforming into a group of companies.[56]

In February 2023, inDrive raised $150m in an innovative hybrid instrument from General Catalyst for marketing and growth, expansion into new verticals.[2]

In 2023, inDrive assembled an in-house corporate venture capital arm focused on emerging markets – New Ventures.[57] Andries Smit was appointed Vice President of New Ventures.[58]

In May 2023, inDrive acquired the team and technology from Master Delivery, a last-mile delivery software platform, to strengthen its B2B unit.[59]

In July 2023, inDrive appointed Mark Loughran as Group President.[60]

In November 2023, inDrive appointed Stephen Kruger as its Chief Technology and Product Officer.[61]

In March 2024, inDrive secured another $150m from General Catalyst to bolster its product and market expansion plans.[62]

App description

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To request a ride, the user specifies the starting point and destination address of the ride, the price they are willing to pay and if they have any comments for the driver. Drivers can make a counter-offer to the price offered by the passenger. Other options include adding additional destinations, indicating the need for a child seat, etc. The information of the car and driver confirmed for the service will appear on the passenger's phone screen. This includes the driver's rating and contact, the car's approximate arrival time and its real-time geolocation point on the map.

Awards

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inDriver was nominated for the GSMA Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) 2019 in the 'Most Innovative Mobile App' category.[63]

The service was named Google Play's 2019 Best Everyday Essential app in Brazil.[64]

inDrive won the SHIELD Trust Awards 2022.[65]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Our values". indrive.com.
  2. ^ a b "InDrive Raises $150 Million To Expand Beyond Ride-Hailing". forbes.com.
  3. ^ Njanja, Annie; Kene-Okafor, Tage (October 28, 2021). "Didi expands, inDriver monetizes to rival Uber, Bolt in Africa". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Peleschuk, Dan (April 8, 2019). "Can This Siberian Entrepreneur Make You Haggle for Your Ride?". OZY. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  5. ^ "InDrive Allocates $100 Million for Startups and Mergers in Emerging Economies". techinafrica.com. November 22, 2023.
  6. ^ Williams, Katie. "Top Ridesharing & Taxi Apps Worldwide for January 2020 by Downloads". Sensor Tower Blog. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  7. ^ "InDrive Launches In Ghana With Its Unique Peer To Peer Pricing Model". technovagh.com. December 31, 2022.
  8. ^ Keane, Jonathan. "InDrive Eyes Financial Services To Bolster Presence In Developing Markets". Forbes. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  9. ^ Mukul, Pranav (March 12, 2024). "Drivers land better incentives in a crowded ride-hailing space". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  10. ^ Luna, Nancy. "Get ready to make a deal for your ride. InDrive is bringing its ride-hailing-haggling business to the US again". Business Insider. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  11. ^ Butcher, Mike (September 7, 2017). "Straight outta Siberia — inDrive raises $5M for its flat-rate ride-hailing app". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  12. ^ Tomsky, Arsen (January 21, 2018). "Decentralization 2.0: Beyond the semi-monopolies of Uber and Airbnb". The Next Web.
  13. ^ "Straight outta Siberia — inDriver raises $5M for its flat-rate ride-hailing app". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  14. ^ "Машинка подъехала: Арсен Томский вырастил конкурента Uber из группы "ВКонтакте"" [The car has pulled up: Arsen Tomsky has grown the competitor to Uber from a "VKontakte" group]. Секрет фирмы (in Russian). February 1, 2017.
  15. ^ Суворова, Наталья (May 7, 2018). "Основатель сервиса такси inDriver Арсен Томский: Мы — поджарые ниндзя в стане пухлых хипстеров" [The founder of the inDriver taxi service Arsen Tomsky: We are lean ninjas in the camp of plump hipsters]. Inc. (in Russian). Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  16. ^ "Ride-Hailing Company InDrive Eyes Up An Ambitious Play For Emerging Markets". Forbes.
  17. ^ "«إندرايف» تطلق مجددًا خدمات رمضان لمساعدة المصريين في التنظيف والتحضير للإفطار". جريدة المال (in Arabic). March 13, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  18. ^ "Servicios jurídicos: una profesión que protege tus derechos". Contacto Hoy (in Mexican Spanish). March 25, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  19. ^ canaltech. "InDrive agora oferece serviços de faxina, reparos, saúde e outros ofícios". Terra (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  20. ^ "Аналог inDriver появился в Казахстане". lada.kz.
  21. ^ "Uber, Taxify to face Russia's inDriver in Africa — Quartz Africa". qz.com. November 15, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  22. ^ Ведомости (July 19, 2018). "Российский такси-сервис inDriver перенес центральный офис в Нью-Йорк из Якутии". Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  23. ^ "Buscará inDriver acelerar a Saltillo". Zocalo. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  24. ^ "Llega InDriver: transporte donde cliente decide tarifa". Vanguardia (in Spanish). May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  25. ^ "inDriver откроет Америку". Газета "Коммерсантъ". April 5, 2018. p. 10. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  26. ^ Михайлова, Лера (May 4, 2018). "Российский такси-сервис inDriver вышел на рынок Мексики". vc.ru. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  27. ^ "Aplicación de viaje en línea inDriver entra a Guatemala". Revista Estrategia & Negocios (in Spanish). Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  28. ^ Diario la Opinión. "Llegó a Cúcuta una aplicación para 'negociar' el costo de su carrera". La Opinión (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 8, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  29. ^ "Trujillo: usuarios decidirán cuánto pagar por taxis gracias a app". La Industria (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  30. ^ "InDriver yatua Arusha, abiria kuchipangia bei". Mwananchi (in Swahili). Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  31. ^ "inDriver собрал денег на переезд". Kommersant (in Russian).
  32. ^ "inDriver собрал денег на переезд". InDrive (in Russian).
  33. ^ "Российский такси-сервис inDriver перенес центральный офис в Нью-Йорк из Якутии". Vedomosti (in Russian).
  34. ^ Walmsley, Julie. "Priceline Meets Uber In A Name-Your-Fare Ride Service Arriving In New York". Forbes. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  35. ^ Lekach, Sasha (December 4, 2018). "Russian ride-hailing app comes to America with set-your-own-price scheme". Mashable. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  36. ^ "Ride-hailing app inDriver lets you bid on a cab". Fox 5 New York. December 6, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  37. ^ "Passengers can set their own fares with international rideshare company". Digital Trends. December 5, 2018.
  38. ^ "InDriver becomes Pakistan's most downloaded ride-hailing app". Daily Times. July 4, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  39. ^ "The Ride-Share App That Lets You Pitch the Fare and Pick the Driver Is Now in Sydney". Gizmodo. October 13, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  40. ^ "InDrive Takes On The U.S. Market With Miami Launch". forbes.com.
  41. ^ "Car ride app inDrive gets LTFRB nod to operate". ABS-CBN News. December 14, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  42. ^ Cabato, Luisa (January 23, 2024). "LTFRB suspends inDrive". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  43. ^ "This is the most 'popular' cab hailing app in Pakistan". The Times of India. January 19, 2024.
  44. ^ "Performance of inDrive. Rides with fair fares". data.ai.
  45. ^ "Российский такси-сервис inDriver раскрыл статистику по количеству поездок в конце 2016 года после «Яндекс.Такси» и Gett". vc.ru (in Russian).
  46. ^ "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic".
  47. ^ "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)". Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  48. ^ "inDriver запустил сервис "Медработник в пути"". Vesti Today (in Russian). April 4, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  49. ^ Марина Эфендиева (July 20, 2020). "Сервис пассажироперевозок inDriver отметил 50 млн установок мобильного приложения". TechFusion (in Russian). Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  50. ^ "inDriver crosses 50 mln milestone". July 20, 2020.
  51. ^ "Основатель inDriver Арсен Томский — Forbes: "Будем делать раунды примерно раз в год"". Forbes (in Russian). October 7, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  52. ^ "В inDriver состоялась миллиардная сделка с начала работы сервиса". YKT News (in Russian). May 14, 2021. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  53. ^ "Сервис такси inDriver перевез часть сотрудников из России в Казахстан". Forbes (in Russian). March 4, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  54. ^ "inDriver стал победителем в рейтинге самых успешных стартапов 2021 года по версии". Inc. (in Russian). December 29, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  55. ^ PYMNTS (February 28, 2024). "InDrive Launches Lending Solution for Drivers on Its Rideshare Platform". PYMNTS.com. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  56. ^ "From inDriver to inDrive: The International service announces rebranding". Media Infoline. October 11, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  57. ^ "Ride-Hailing Company InDrive Eyes Up An Ambitious Play For Emerging Markets". Forbes.
  58. ^ "InDrive launches ventures and M&A arm to invest $100M in startups across emerging markets". techcrunch.com.
  59. ^ "inDrive Strengthens B2B Offering Through Team Expansion, Tech Acquisition". finance.yahoo.com. May 25, 2023.
  60. ^ "inDrive appoints Mark Loughran as Group President". businessday.ng.
  61. ^ "Stephen Kruger Joins inDrive as Chief Technology and Product Officer to Drive Innovation and Growth". compsmag.com.
  62. ^ Keane, Jonathan. "InDrive Secures $150 Million In Further Financing". Forbes. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  63. ^ "Global Mobile Awards 2019 Nominee Shortlist". MWC Barcelona. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  64. ^ "Google revela melhores apps e jogos para Android no Brasil". TechTudo (in Portuguese). December 4, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  65. ^ "SHIELD Announces Winners of the SHIELD Trust Awards 2022 at the Inaugural SHIELD Trust Summit". Web India 123. Singapore. September 30, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
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