UAE sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company has led a funding round that secured $76 million in equity and debt for Moove, a Nigeria-based mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to drivers of ride-hailing companies including Uber.

In a statement on Thursday, Moove said the funding consists of $28 million in equity from new and existing investors, in a process led by Mubadala, $10 million in venture debt from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and $38 million in previously undisclosed funds raised during the prior 12 months.

Faris Sohail Al Mazrui, Head of Ventures & Growth at Mubadala, who will join the fintech's advisory board, said: “Moove has built a highly scalable tech-enabled platform to serve mobility entrepreneurs globally by providing them access to credit and other financial services previously unavailable to them. This is a hugely underbanked and underserved market that we believe has significant long-term potential.”

Ladi Delano, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Moove said: “We are excited to be partnering with Mubadala and BlackRock to double down on our already profitable markets including the UAE, India, UK, and South Africa, as well as continuing to invest in our customer experience and accelerate our product development to deliver group-wide profitability within the next 12 months.”

Moove, which was founded in 2020, will use the funding to expand and consolidate its position globally. It operates in 13 markets across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, and is Uber's largest vehicle supply partner across EMEA. It is the second largest vehicle partner in India and operates the largest EV fleet by supply hours in UAE, the statement claimed.

Last year, Moove raised $30 million from a debut sukuk issuance to fund the building of an EV ride-hailing fleet in the MENA region.

(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)

brinda.darasha@lseg.com