inDrive offers loans and credit to Colombian drivers | Company | Business

The transport platform is constantly reinventing itself, with more and more services available to meet every type of need, all at a click. As part of this evolution, now inDrive will launch its new vertical business inDrive Money, Welcome to the world of FinTech.

InDrive South America Business Development Manager Harold Forero Neira spoke to Portafolio about the launch of the service, which is available worldwide. Just like a credit card, loans are provided to drivers in many cities across the country.

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In an environment where platforms include more services every day, what is the balance for Columbia?

Fortunately, InDrive is experiencing quite positive performance. In 2024, we celebrate six years in the Colombian market. We recently arrived in Cúcuta and today we have been to more than 20 cities. This growth is a testament to how our business model resonates so well with the Latin American and Colombian public.

We have been the most downloaded app in the mobile space in Colombia for the past two years. This shows that we are growing and how we continue to develop.

In addition to our urban transportation services, in these six years we have also included transportation from one city to another, sending light packages, and heavy packages weighing more than 20 kg. Two years ago, we launched a vertical business focused on other services, home care, pet care, etc. All these services are carried out under our direct negotiation model, and the two parties reach an agreement directly, which is our mission in all services.

Are there any new cities in your plans?

We have teams that are developing these expansions, which we call small and medium-sized cities; each city needs to be analyzed on a city-by-city basis. We don’t have a plan per se about whether to launch in a city, but we analyze each city. We continue to launch products, but we are also very focused on strengthening our operations in the cities where we already have a presence.

What are they learning?

We are currently working a lot in mid-sized cities, in restarted cities like Ibag or Armenia, which are growing and also looking for places where other business units can go. Not all of these are in all cities, so when urban mobility suddenly takes hold, all the other verticals can go.

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Have you considered changing the model rather than negotiating?

What we always want to do is use technology to enable transparency and eliminate algorithms, based on our mission to challenge injustice, and this is how we achieve that. That’s our model: negotiation. That will never change. The model of direct negotiations between two parties remains and will continue to work. What we do in each region is look at what the economic and legal framework allows us to do.

Can they combine with other different modes of shipping?

We don’t discriminate in any way. For example, we were the first app to recruit taxi drivers from the beginning, because at the end of the day it’s a question of democratizing and providing the service to as many people as possible.

In addition, there are some cities where you can only travel by motorcycle…

In the case of motorcycles, we are an intermediary service provider, and there are cities and regions where there is demand. This problem is dealt with in some cities because it is all about providing access, even in large cities it is about solving traffic problems. So we provide services there, and there is package delivery, and it is a balance of everything.

Do you have any plans in the country this year?

Our six years here have been very positive, Colombia is one of the priority countries for inDrive, it is a “top 5” country in the world, and we have to remember that the application is present in more than 45 countries.

In our plan, we have many strategic priorities to strengthen our cities themselves.

Will they invest in security or technology?

We’re constantly working on this. We’ve developed different features to help us improve security, and it’s something we work on every day.

In terms of technology, we incorporate artificial intelligence, always balancing that with the needs of the city. Some cities have certain requirements and they ask us to do certain things, some cities don’t, so it’s always about balancing the technology that’s available with what the city requires of us.

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What are the plans for the second semester?

In addition to the Urban Mobility vertical, very soon, in Semester 2, we will be launching the new inDrive Money vertical, which we will provide you with details on in due course.

Additionally, we will continue to strengthen ourselves with the increased need for love and friendship, the December holidays, and more.

When will inDrive Money arrive? Will it work like fintech?

It’s already open in some countries, like Mexico, where it’s available now. I’ll have more details later as we roll out the end credits. It’ll probably be released in August or September.

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How did they spend the six years in the country?

After six years of work, we can say that we are very proud of our app because the business model and the way of operation resonate a lot with Latin American culture.

This question of direct negotiation, of speaking directly to people is very Latin, very Colombian. The model that we adopted six years ago is still ours, and what we are doing is expanding it to other verticals, other services. But this fundamental question has always resonated very strongly in Latin America and Colombia. So we are growing, and this is how we take it, grow and face the challenge.

Paula Galeano Balaguera
Portfolio Reporter