Ride-hailing service provider charges zero percent service fee from drivers
inDrive, a global mobility and urban services platform, has obtained a license to operate ride-hailing services in Saudi Arabia.
The company has already started operations in Jeddah and is planning to launch in full operational capacity.
With offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, inDrive is considering expanding to other cities in the country this year.
Originally from Siberia, inDrive has quickly become one of the leading ride-hailing services in the MENA region and is ranked the second mobility app globally with 280+ million downloads.
Saudi Arabia will be the 49th country in which inDrive will operate.
Abdulrahman Basallum, inDrive country manager in the Kingdom, said: “The unique operational model of inDrive, where the driver and passenger determine the price, has been groundbreaking.
"This has allowed the company to challenge the dominance of large players who, taking advantage of their monopoly, charge exorbitant 25-40 percent commissions from drivers.
"The economy of Saudi Arabia is one of the central ones in the region, and thousands of people make daily trips, paying unclear fares, while drivers face huge service fees.
"We believe we have a great opportunity to provide residents and visitors of Saudi Arabia with excellent service at a fair price and with transparent conditions.”
The core idea of inDrive's business model is the freedom of choice.
Unlike traditional ride-hailing apps, inDrive users can choose not only the driver or passenger, based on ratings and reviews from previous riders, but also based on the price.
inDrive provides a unique bidding model, where both driver and passenger negotiate the price directly. The passenger proposes a price first, and the driver can accept, reject, or adjust the offer without penalties. As a result, the final price is considered the fairest, as agreed upon by both parties involved in the ride.
inDrive charges the lowest service fee in all markets of operation, which is two to three times less than most competitors, including large international companies that are able to set higher fees due to their strong market presence.
inDrive’s strategy has proven successful — fair prices and transparency in transactions — which plays a crucial role in the service’s popularity.
Word of mouth has become one of the primary tools for promoting the service, enabling inDrive to outpace many global companies supported by major investment funds in multiple markets.
According to the firm Sensor Tower, for a third year in a row, inDrive is the second-most downloaded mobility app in the world and is one of the leading travel apps in MENA (particularly number one in Morocco and Egypt).
The company also operates in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – 49 countries in total.
inDrive attracted investments for global funds such as Insight Partners, Bond Capital and General Catalyst.
In the latest investment valuation in 2021, the company was valued at $1.23 billion. Since then, the company’s revenue has increased several times.
The mission of inDrive is to challenge injustice, and the company's goal is to have a positive impact on the lives of more than 1 billion people by 2030.
In line with this mission and goal, inDrive is developing a range of social initiatives in the areas of education, sports, culture, ecology, and gender equality.
These initiatives are already actively developing in the MENA region, in Egypt and Morocco, and in Saudi Arabia, as it also plans to follow its strategy by reinvesting a portion of its income into community empowerment.
inDrive remains an international leader in its industry, and, operating worldwide, the company places a strong emphasis on user safety.
The company uses cutting-edge security technologies to verify drivers and to track rides, and prioritizes critical requests handled by its 24/7 customer support service.
