Moove’s evolution from a vehicle financing startup to ride-hailing and deliveries in Africa to one that also owns and autonomous vehicles may seem like a leap. But co-founder and co-CEO Ladi Delano said the experience in financing and human-driven ride-hailing fleets was the ideal training ground for its latest pursuit.
And now, it has raised $250 million at a $2.1 billion valuation to scale that business.
The company, founded in 2020 in Nigeria and now headquartered in Dubai, said Mubadala Investment Company led this latest, Series C round with Woven Capital and Ion Pacific as co-leads.
Moove is still very much in the human-driven ride-hailing business. It owns and operates a 42,000-vehicle ride-hailing fleet across 14 countries. The company, which employs 3,300 people globally, also still provides vehicle financing to gig drivers.
Its expansion into autonomous vehicles started in early 2023 after evaluating the industry and its four main players in this nascent ecosystem: the AV developers, vehicle manufacturers, marketplaces like Uber, and the consumer. None of these players want to “own the metal,” Delano told TechCrunch, referring to the vehicles.
