Nigerian Mobility Startup, Moove Partners With Uber to Expand Ride-hailing Fleet in India

As part of its global expansion, Moove, the world’s first mobility fintech and Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner in EMEA, has announced its launch in India. Moove, a company that provides revenue-based financing to mobility entrepreneurs, has expanded from its African roots to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore to provide vehicle financing to Uber driver-partners.

Moove will launch 5,000 EV and CNG vehicles in the first year, with plans to scale to 30,000 over the next five years, creating sustainable employment opportunities in a rapidly developing economy. This will be one of Uber India’s largest vehicle partnerships.

Vehicle financing is transforming mobility gig economies.

Because traditional banks rely on historical data to underwrite their loans, half of the world’s 1.1 billion gig workers are denied access to financial services and credit. Poor credit penetration is preventing millions of people in emerging markets across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa from purchasing new vehicles. India has extremely low vehicle ownership, with less than 25 per 1,000 people, compared to Europe, which has 600+ per 1000 people.

Moove was founded in 2020 with the goal of democratizing access to vehicle ownership. It is leading the charge in the mobility fintech sector,’ a white space created by Moove to address the issue of millions of people in emerging markets having limited access to vehicle financing.

To accomplish this, the company employs proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite loans to customers who were previously denied access to financial services. Moove has enabled sustainable job creation and a path to asset ownership over the last two years, with its customers having completed over 5 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles.

As part of its global mission to close the finance gap for mobility entrepreneurs, the company is now bringing its impact-led model to India, its first expansion outside of Africa.

Moove’s innovative model, similar to that of Sub-Saharan Africa, will help thousands of drivers return to work by putting 5,000 vehicles on the road in the first year, with the goal of scaling to 30,000 vehicles and becoming Uber India’s mega-fleet partner across 300 cities over the next five years.

Energizing mobility electrification

Moove aspires to be a global leader in the electrification of ride-hailing and mobility, with a goal of financing 60 percent hybrid or electric vehicles globally. India recently set targets for increasing renewable energy uptake and lowering harmful emissions by 2030, creating an ideal market opportunity for Moove to provide affordable financing for fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.

“As our first global expansion outside of Africa, launching in India is a very special moment for the entire Moove team,” said Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO of Moove.

We’re excited to be expanding our revenue-based vehicle financing model to enable the long-term creation of jobs across the country, where vehicle ownership rates are among the lowest in the world, owing in part to a lack of credit. We are thrilled to be expanding our Uber partnership to help our new customers in India with this issue.”

“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,” said Binod Mishra, Regional GM for South Asia at Moove.

“This partnership is aimed at enabling access to vehicles among mobility entrepreneurs at a time when capital availability is the key issue,” said Abhilekh Kumar, Director, Business Development, Uber India South Asia. The Moove team has developed an innovative “rent to own” model that has the potential to fundamentally change vehicle ownership in the country. We’re excited about their potential to unlock long-term livelihood creation by removing existing ownership barriers. It will assist drivers in growing their own businesses while also creating a more sustainable mobility infrastructure in India. With rider demand in India higher than ever, we’re excited to collaborate with Moove to ensure we can provide an unparalleled experience to both drivers and riders on our platform in our key markets.”