inDrive, the mobility and urban services platform, has launched a new venture and M&A arm aiming to invest up to $100 million in promising startups.
The venture arm will be led by entrepreneur and investment professional Andries Smit who has joined inDrive as Vice President of New Ventures.
According to Mark Loughran, President of inDrive: “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.”
New Ventures investments will focus on rapid growth and positive community impact especially on ventures that challenge injustice, improving the lives of individuals and communities.
Local market startups with potential for global expansion, post-seed/pre-Series A companies with proven product market fit and those with rapid organic growth.
“Once an underdog and now a global company, inDrive is certainly an investor to watch – the team has achieved rapid global growth while remaining committed to its mission of challenging injustice,” said Andries Smit, Vice President of New Ventures at inDrive. “By investing in emerging companies innovating to improve people’s lives, inDrive further strengthens its commitment to challenging injustice by helping successful, but overlooked startups.”
InDrive’s New Ventures unit is dedicated to help investee and acquired companies scale quickly across inDrive’s platform. These companies are set to gain a competitive edge by tapping inDrive’s global multi-million customer base across 45+ markets, access to the company’s go-to-market know-how and technology.
Andries has held key strategic roles in both startup and corporate organizations, leading business transformations, acquisitions and integrations at major corporations including Morgan Stanley, and Aviva. He has also built ventures as a partner at Stryber, a leading strategic growth partner and independent corporate venture builder in Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific.