Known for its bidding-based approach to fares, inDrive is deepening its push beyond ride-hailing by rolling out advertising across its top 20 markets and expanding grocery delivery to Pakistan, executing on a “super app” strategy outlined last year to build new revenue streams and boost engagement while sustaining growth in price-sensitive markets.
The latest move by the Mountain View, California–headquartered firm comes as ride-hailing platforms face intensifying competition and tighter margins across emerging markets, pushing companies to look beyond transport for growth. Advertising offers a high-margin revenue stream that scales with usage, while grocery delivery increases how frequently users open the app. The combination could help inDrive reduce reliance on ride commissions while reinforcing its core mobility business.
InDrive has built its position on affordability, using a peer-to-peer negotiation model that lets riders and drivers agree on fares directly rather than relying on fixed pricing. It nonetheless operates in a crowded market alongside global players such as Uber and local micro-commuting options including taxis and autorickshaws, prompting the company to look beyond rides alone. That backdrop shaped inDrive’s “super app” strategy, aimed at adding higher-frequency services such as grocery delivery in frontier and emerging markets.
Advertising on inDrive is being rolled out across markets including Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, and Morocco. The rollout follows mid-2025 tests that delivered hundreds of millions of impressions and drew interest from global consumer brands and banks, said Andries Smit, inDrive’s chief growth business officer, in an interview.
The advertising business will initially focus on placements within the app, including during the waiting period after a ride is booked and while passengers are en route, moments that generate high engagement and sustained attention, Smit told TechCrunch.
In-car and on-vehicle advertising are part of the longer-term roadmap. However, Smit said inDrive plans to prioritise in-app formats through 2026, citing operational complexity around on-car advertising in emerging markets and stronger early returns from digital placements.
Pakistan, the next big market for inDrive’s “super app” play
The focus on in-app advertising dovetails with inDrive’s push into groceries, a higher-frequency use case where the company expects to generate stronger engagement and advertising demand than from rides alone. InDrive is scaling grocery delivery in Pakistan, its second market after Kazakhstan, through a partnership with local dark-store operator Krave Mart, which received an investment from inDrive in December 2024.
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Pakistan stands out, Smit said, because of a combination of rising demand for quick commerce and inDrive’s own scale in the market. Grocery retail remains highly fragmented and informal, while urban consumers are increasingly turning to app-based delivery as more households juggle work and family responsibilities. Simultaneously, inDrive has emerged as one of the country’s leading mobility platforms, giving it a large, engaged user base to cross-sell groceries without the high customer acquisition costs that have weighed on many quick-commerce startups.
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