Known for its bid-based approach to fares, inDrive is deepening its push beyond glamour, opening ads in its top 20 markets and expanding grocery delivery in Pakistan, implementing a “super apps” strategy outlined last year to create new revenue streams and drive loyalty while maintaining growth in price-sensitive markets.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s latest move comes as ride-hailing platforms face intensifying competition and tighter profit margins in emerging markets, prompting companies to look beyond transportation for growth. Advertising offers a high-margin revenue stream that scales with usage, while grocery delivery increases the frequency with which users open the app. The combination could help inDrive reduce its reliance on transportation supplies while strengthening its core mobility business.
InDrive has built its position on affordability by using a peer-to-peer negotiation model that allows riders and drivers to agree on fares directly rather than relying on fixed prices. However, it operates in a crowded market alongside global players like Uber and local micro-mobility options including taxis and autorickshaws, prompting the company to look beyond ride-hailing alone. This backdrop shaped Drive’s “super app” strategy, aiming to add higher-frequency services such as grocery delivery to borderless and emerging markets.
Ads on inDrive are available in markets including Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Morocco. The rollout follows trials in mid-2025 that delivered hundreds of millions of impressions and attracted the interest of global consumer brands and banks, Andries Smit, inDrive’s chief business development officer, said in an interview.
The ad business will initially focus on in-app placements, including the waiting period after booking a ride and while passengers are en route, moments that create high engagement and sustained attention, Smit told TechCrunch.
In-car and in-vehicle advertising is part of the long-term roadmap. However, Smit said inDrive plans to prioritize in-app formats through 2026, citing operational complexity around in-car advertising in emerging markets and stronger early returns from digital placements.
Pakistan, the next big market for inDrive’s ‘super app’
The focus on in-app advertising is paired with inDrive’s push into groceries, a higher-frequency use case where the company expects to generate more engagement and ad demand than from rides alone. InDrive is scaling up grocery delivery in Pakistan, its second market after Kazakhstan, through a partnership with local dark-shop company Krave Mart, which received investment by inDrive in December 2024.
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Pakistan stands out, Smit said, because of the combination of growing demand for fast commerce and its own inDrive scale in the market. Food retail remains highly fragmented and informal, while urban consumers are increasingly turning to app-based delivery as more households juggle work and family responsibilities. At the same time, inDrive has emerged as one of the nation’s leading mobility platforms, giving it a large, dedicated user base for grocery cross-selling without the high customer acquisition costs that have plagued many fast-casual startups.
Since launching in 2021, inDrive has been steadily expanding its footprint in Pakistan, with ride volumes growing nearly 40% year-on-year in 2025, while deliveries through courier services grew 67% in the first half of the year, according to company data shared with TechCrunch. The company sees Pakistan as one of its fastest growing markets globally, with particularly high usage in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. In total, inDrive provides transportation services to more than 20 cities in Pakistan and long distance services to more than 200 locations.
InDrive’s grocery rollout in Pakistan will begin in Karachi, the country’s largest city and one of the company’s strongest markets, where users will be able to order daily essentials through the app with delivery times of around 20 to 30 minutes. The service will then expand to other major cities such as Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi later this year as inDrive develops sourcing and logistics with Krave Mart. The platform plans to offer more than 7,500 products — which include fresh produce, meat and dairy, snacks and household items — along with free delivery on orders above PKR 499 (about $2) with no service charge.
In addition to its rapid growth as a road traffic market, Pakistan has also emerged as a hub for inDrive’s capital deployment. Of the company’s $100 million multi-year investment plan announced at the end of 2023, Smit said the largest share so far has gone to Pakistan, although he declined to disclose specifics. He added that at least half of the total $100 million commitment has already been deployed.
“We see incredible potential in Pakistan,” Schmidt said. “Ideally, we want to continue and double [investments] as we see performance”.
InDrive’s growing focus on Pakistan comes despite broader investor attention to the market. Venture capital and public investors have largely stayed on the sidelines amid geopolitical and macroeconomic risks, even as activity shows signs of recovery. Equity funding in Pakistan grew 63% year-on-year in 2025 to $36.6 million in 10 rounds, according to a recent report by Karachi-based analyst firm Data Darbar — well below $347 million and $331 million accrued in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
However, the gap between investor attention and on-the-ground demand is exactly where inDrive sees opportunity. Having operated in dozens of emerging markets, Smit said the firm is more used to volatility and less dependent on shifting capital market sentiment, giving it the confidence to invest where others hesitate. With an established local business and a large active user base, he noted that inDrive can also help partners scale without heavy customer acquisition costs — an advantage that becomes especially valuable when outside funding is scarce.
InDrive’s push into advertising and commerce rests on scale. The company operates in 1,065 cities in 48 countries and has surpassed 360 million app downloads, making it the second most downloaded mobility app in the world for the third year in a row, behind Uber, according to company data.
Looking ahead, inDrive expects advertising to become a more substantial contributor in the medium term, particularly as grocery and delivery volumes increase and create more opportunities for contextual promotions. Ride-hailing, which accounted for about 95% of inDrive’s revenue just a few years ago, is now closer to 85%, even as the core business continues to grow, reflecting how newer industries are starting to scale.
Grocery, delivery, advertising and eventually financial services are expected to play a bigger role over the next three to five years as the company selectively expands into priority markets, Smit said.
