inDrive turns to ads and groceries to diversify revenue

inDrive turns to ads and groceries to diversify revenue

Known for its bidding-based strategy to fares, inDrive is deepening its push past ride-hailing by rolling out promoting across its top 20 markets and increasing grocery supply to Pakistan, executing on a “super app” strategy outlined last 12 months to build new revenue streams and increase engagement while sustaining progress in price-sensitive markets.

The latest transfer by the Mountain View, California–headquartered agency comes as ride-hailing platforms face intensifying competitors and tighter margins across rising markets, pushing corporations to look past transport for progress. Advertising presents a high-margin revenue stream that scales with usage, while grocery supply will increase how steadily customers open the app. The mixture might assist inDrive scale back reliance on experience commissions while reinforcing its core mobility enterprise.

InDrive has constructed its place on affordability, utilizing a peer-to-peer negotiation mannequin that lets riders and drivers agree on fares immediately somewhat than counting on mounted pricing. It nonetheless operates in a crowded market alongside global gamers such as Uber and local micro-commuting choices including taxis and autorickshaws, prompting the company to look past rides alone. That backdrop formed inDrive’s “super app” strategy, aimed toward including higher-frequency companies such as grocery supply in frontier and rising markets.

Advertising on inDrive is being rolled out across markets including Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, and Morocco. The rollout follows mid-2025 checks that delivered tons of of hundreds of thousands of impressions and drew curiosity from global client manufacturers and banks, said Andries Smit, inDrive’s chief progress enterprise officer, in an interview.

The promoting enterprise will initially deal with placements within the app, including during the ready interval after a experience is booked and while passengers are en route, moments that generate high engagement and sustained consideration, Smit told TechCrunch.

In-car and on-vehicle promoting are a part of the longer-term roadmap. However, Smit said inDrive plans to prioritise in-app codecs by means of 2026, citing operational complexity round on-car promoting in rising markets and stronger early returns from digital placements.

Pakistan, the next big marketplace for inDrive’s “super app” play

The deal with in-app promoting dovetails with inDrive’s push into groceries, a higher-frequency use case the place the company expects to generate stronger engagement and promoting demand than from rides alone. InDrive is scaling grocery supply in Pakistan, its second market after Kazakhstan, by means of a partnership with local dark-store operator Krave Mart, which obtained an funding from inDrive in December 2024.

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Pakistan stands out, Smit said, because of a mixture of rising demand for fast commerce and inDrive’s personal scale in the market. Grocery retail stays extremely fragmented and casual, while city shoppers are more and more turning to app-based supply as more households juggle work and household duties. Simultaneously, inDrive has emerged as certainly one of the nation’s main mobility platforms, giving it a large, engaged person base to cross-sell groceries without the high buyer acquisition prices that have weighed on many quick-commerce startups.

Since launching in 2021, inDrive has steadily expanded its footprint in Pakistan, with experience volumes rising almost 40% year-over-year in 2025, while deliveries by means of its courier companies grew 67% in the first half of the 12 months, per company data shared with TechCrunch. The company views Pakistan as certainly one of its fastest-growing markets globally, with notably high usage in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. Overall, inDrive operates ride-hailing companies in more than 20 Pakistani cities and intercity companies across over 200 places.

InDrive’s grocery rollout in Pakistan will start in Karachi, the nation’s largest metropolis and certainly one of the company’s strongest markets, the place customers will likely be ready to order daily necessities by means of the app with supply instances of round 20 to half-hour. The service will then develop to other major cities, including Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, later this 12 months as inDrive builds out provide and logistics with Krave Mart. The platform plans to supply more than 7,500 merchandise — spanning recent produce, meat and dairy, snacks and home items — alongside free supply on orders above PKR 499 (about $2) with no service charges.

Image Credits:inDrive

In addition to its speedy progress as a ride-hailing market, Pakistan has also emerged as a focal point for inDrive’s capital deployment. Of the company’s $100 million multi-year funding program announced in late 2023, Smit said the largest share to date has been directed towards Pakistan, though he declined to disclose particular figures. He added that not less than half of the general $100 million dedication has already been deployed.

“We’re seeing incredible potential in Pakistan,” said Smit. “Ideally, we want to continue and double down on [investments] as we see performance.”

InDrive’s rising deal with Pakistan comes despite broader investor warning towards the market. Venture capital and public buyers have largely stayed on the sidelines amid geopolitical and macroeconomic dangers, even as exercise reveals indicators of recovery. Equity funding in Pakistan rose 63% YoY in 2025 to $36.6 million across 10 rounds, per a latest report by Karachi-based startup analyst agency Data Darbar — properly below the $347 million and $331 million raised in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

However, the hole between investor warning and on-the-ground demand is exactly the place inDrive sees alternative. Having operated across dozens of rising markets, Smit said the company is more accustomed to volatility and less reliant on shifting capital-market sentiment, giving it confidence to make investments the place others hesitate. With a longtime local enterprise and a large energetic person base, he famous that inDrive can also assist companions scale without heavy spending on buyer acquisition — a bonus that turns into particularly precious when exterior funding is scarce.

InDrive’s push into promoting and commerce is underpinned by scale. The company operates in 1,065 cities across 48 nations and has surpassed 360 million app downloads, making it the world’s second most-downloaded mobility app for the third consecutive 12 months, behind Uber, per company data.

Looking ahead, inDrive expects promoting to change into a more significant contributor over the medium time period, notably as grocery and supply volumes develop and create more alternatives for contextual promotions. Ride-hailing, which accounted for about 95% of inDrive’s revenue just a few years in the past, now makes up nearer to 85%, even as the core enterprise continues to develop, reflecting how newer verticals are starting to scale.

Groceries, supply, promoting and, finally, monetary companies are anticipated to play a bigger position over the next three to 5 years as the company expands selectively across precedence markets, Smit said.

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