Dubai Cultiv8 and Oman Holding International invest $5m in Udrive

UAE homegrown brand Udrive, which provides a pay-per-minute car rental service for residents and tourists, recently completed another funding round attracting strategic investments of $5m.

In July 2021, Udrive announced it had closed a $5m funding round led by regional business leaders and three venture capitalists. Udrive recorded robust growth in 2021 clocking two million trips, making it one of the largest rental booking platforms by transactions per car in the region.

Read: Dubai based Udrive closes $5m funding round

Udrive addresses short term on-demand rentals by adding additional services including free fuel, parking and comprehensive insurance for all its customers. Its cars can be driven per minute or per day, depending on the needs of the customer. Cars can also be picked up from any location available and can be returned in the same city at any parking location.

The mobile app acts as an all-purpose digital hub for private transport, payments, customer service and logistics, dramatically reducing the time it takes compared to traditional rental companies.

Udrive’s new funding comes from Dubai Cultiv8 and Oman Holding International (OHI).

Arif Alawi, CEO of Dubai Cultiv8 , said: “Mobility tech is one of the key investment sectors our technology fund focuses on, and Udrive perfectly fits the fund’s guidelines. With the newly-formed board and management team we are excited for Udrive’s continued triple digit growth across the MENAT region during 2022.”

Muscat-based OHI, which owns Budget Oman, will support Udrive’s commitment to grow its revenue and vehicle fleet.

“We can expect to see radical shifts in how cars will be used both globally and regionally,” commented OHI’s director and CEO Eihab Saleh. “With a vision to drive this change, Udrive presented their well-articulated plan to achieve successful entry across new markets making our decision easy to invest in Udrive. We are confident that their product roadmap is expected to significantly change the way cars are ‘consumed’ and utilised in the MENAT region.”

The investment will support Udrive for the upcoming expansion in the region and enhancements of its technology. Additional emphasis will be given to streamlining the customer experience, an example of which has been the automatic parking payment system, wherein the car determines where it is parked and automatically pays the relevant meter charges.

“We are digitising mobility, making it easily accessible to everyone. The recent funding secured will help us invest in new technologies as well as grow our offerings into the region this year. We want to provide this service to everyone who can drive, and the reality is customer demand is shifting fast from buying and owning to on-demand and subscription,” said Udrive CEO and co-founder Nicholas Watson.

Car sharing platforms have seen exponential growth worldwide as well as in the Middle East. According to a report by Valuates, the global car sharing market will reach $103bn by 2025, with a CAGR of 17.2 per cent during the forecast period. Additionally, KPMG reports that almost 50 per cent of car owners will no longer want to own a vehicle by 2025, with another report by Research and Markets claiming four out of every 10 car journeys will be via car share.