inDrive Launches  new Ventures with $100million for Startups

…as seasoned entrepreneur, Andries Smit leads team

inDrive, a global mobility and urban services platform, has announced the launch of a new venture and M&A arm, with the goal of investing up to $100 million in promising startups.

The new ventures will be led by seasoned entrepreneur and investment professional, Andries Smit who joins inDrive team as Vice President of New Ventures.

The New Ventures investments will focus on rapid growth and positive community impact with the following investment criteria that include, mission that challenges 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, rapid organic growth and healthy economics and cash flow.

Speaking on the development, Vice President of New Ventures at inDrive, Andries Smit was quoted as saying that“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,”.

Smit explained that by investing in emerging companies such as inDrive would help a great deal to improve people’s lives.

He said this bold step would further help to strengthen its commitment to challenge injustice by helping successful, but overlooked startups.

“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 added.

InDrive’s New Ventures unit is dedicated to helping 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, and 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.

In his remarks, President, inDrive, Mark Loughran also stated that 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.

Loughran stated that the newly appointed Vice President, Andries Smit, has a unique blend of corporate and venture-building experience which makes him a perfect fit to lead New Ventures, adding that he is confident that the energy and experience he brings will help us surpass our investment goals.