Moove, the mobility fintech and Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner in EMEA, has launched in three cities in India as a part of its global expansion, just days after it raised R300 million (US$20 million) from Absa bringing its total funding to-date to over $200 million since its launch in 2020.
According to Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO at Moove, “As our first global expansion outside of Africa, launching in India is a very special moment for the whole Moove team. We’re excited to be expanding our revenue-based vehicle financing model to enable the sustainable creation of jobs across the country, where there are some of the lowest vehicle ownership rates in the world, in part because of the lack of access to credit. We are delighted to be expanding our Uber partnership to solve this problem for our new customers in India.”
Launched in 2020 by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove has been democratising vehicle ownership across Africa by providing mobility entrepreneurs access to revenue-based financing in markets with low access to credit. Using its alternative credit scoring technology, Moove provides vehicle financing to its customers to purchase brand new vehicles using a percentage of their weekly revenue. Having experienced overwhelming demand and exponential growth across its six sub-Saharan African markets, Moove-financed vehicles have completed over 6 million trips to date.
The revenue-based financing to mobility entrepreneur started has expanded from its African roots to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore to provide accessible vehicle financing to driver partners on Uber’s platform.
In what will be one of Uber India’s largest vehicle partnerships, Moove will be launching 5,000 EV and CNG vehicles within the first year, with plans to scale to 30,000 over the next five years, creating sustainable employment opportunities in a rapidly developing economy.
Abhilekh Kumar, Director, Business Development, Uber India South Asia, said, “This partnership is aimed at enabling access to vehicles among mobility entrepreneurs at a time when capital availability is the key issue. The Moove team has created an innovative “drive to own” model that can fundamentally transform vehicle ownership in the country. We’re excited about their potential to unlock sustainable livelihood creation by removing the existing barriers to ownership. It’ll help drivers to seamlessly grow their own businesses and create a more sustainable mobility infrastructure in India. With demand from riders higher than ever in India, we’re looking forward to partnering with Moove to ensure we can provide an unparalleled experience to both drivers and riders on our platform in our top markets.”
Mobility entrepreneur with newly assigned vehicle
Transforming mobility gig economies through vehicle finance
The company is now bringing its impact-led model to India, its first expansion outside of Africa, as part of its mission to close the finance gap for mobility entrepreneurs globally. Similar to sub-Saharan Africa, Moove’s innovative model will help thousands of drivers return to work, by putting 5,000 vehicles on the road within the first year, with the intent of scaling to 30,000 vehicles and becoming Uber India’s mega-fleet partner across 300 cities over the next five years.
Moove India team with co-CEO and co-founder Ladi Delano (middle)
Powering the electrification of mobility
Moove aims to be a global leader in the electrification of ride-hailing and mobility with a commitment to ensuring that 60% of the vehicles it finances globally are hybrid or electric. India has recently set targets for improving renewable energy uptake and reducing harmful emissions by 2030, creating the perfect market opportunity for Moove to provide accessible financing for fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.
Half of the world’s 1.1 billion gig workers are denied access to financial services and lack access to credit because traditional banks rely on historical data to underwrite their loans. In emerging markets across Africa, Asia and MENA, poor credit penetration is restricting the ability of millions of people from buying new vehicles – India has extremely low vehicle ownership with less than 25 per 1,000 people compared to Europe, where it is 600+ per 1000 people.
Fleet of vehicles
Binod Mishra, Regional GM for South Asia at Moove, said, “We’re looking forward to working closely with the Uber India team to roll out Moove’s innovative platform, starting in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore, and scaling up to many more cities over the next five years.”