Naran Raises $10M to Expand Mobility Financing Across Emerging Markets

Alexander Gubarev and Bayaskhalan Alexeev, Naran co-founders

UAE-based mobility financing and fleet infrastructure platform Naran has raised $10 million in equity and debt financing from Landel, a UAE-based investment firm.

The funding will support Naran's fleet expansion in Colombia, Peru, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire, alongside entry into new markets across MENA and the rollout of additional fintech products.

The investment comes as demand for mobility financing grows across emerging markets, where drivers often face barriers to traditional vehicle loans because of irregular income and limited formal credit histories.

What Does Naran's Mobility Financing Platform Offer?

Founded in 2025 by Bayaskhalan Alexeev and Alexander Gubarev, Naran provides rent-to-own financing for cars and motorcycles to independent ride-hailing and delivery drivers.

The founders are both alumni of Yango, where they launched and scaled ride-hailing operations across Latin America and Africa.

Naran purchases vehicles directly from manufacturers and works with major mobility platforms, including Yango and inDrive, to connect financed vehicles with drivers.

Its financing terms range from 12 to 60 months, allowing drivers to acquire vehicles while building a formal repayment history.

Naran's model is designed to address two connected challenges:

• Drivers need affordable vehicle financing despite limited access to traditional bank credit.
• Ride-hailing and delivery platforms need additional vehicles and qualified drivers to increase marketplace supply.

As a result, each financed vehicle can simultaneously create an income opportunity for a driver and increase available supply for Naran's platform partners.

How Does Naran's Fleet Technology Support Its Expansion?

Naran has developed an integrated fleet management system that supports its operations across multiple markets.

The technology platform manages the company's operations from driver onboarding and payment scheduling to:

• Vehicle utilisation tracking
• Telematics and GPS monitoring
• Maintenance management
• Payment and repayment scheduling
• Internal operational automation

By using a single technology platform and consistent operating model across countries, Naran aims to reduce operational complexity as it expands geographically.

This technology infrastructure also forms part of the company's longer-term strategy beyond financing its own vehicles.

Why Is Naran Expanding Beyond Vehicle Financing?

Naran views vehicle financing as the first application of a broader asset-backed financing model for emerging markets.

Each vehicle contract generates repayment data and establishes a driver's formal credit history. Over time, Naran intends to use this combination of real assets, repayment data, and operating infrastructure to develop additional financial products.

The company also plans to make its technology infrastructure available to third-party fleet operators.

Its broader multi-fleet strategy includes:

Planned offering	How it could support fleet operators
Fleet management SaaS	Software for managing vehicles, drivers, payments, and utilisation
Internal automation tools	Streamlining fleet operations and administrative processes
Asset-backed debt financing	Financing fleet expansion against revenue-generating assets
Fleet operator acquisitions	Acquiring operators where the economics support vertical expansion

This approach could shift Naran's relationship with fleet operators from potential competition to a broader technology, financing, and infrastructure partnership.

“We address a critical financing gap in emerging markets, where ride-hailing and delivery drivers can't access traditional bank loans due to irregular income or limited credit histories,” said Bayaskhalan Alexeev, CEO and co-founder of Naran.

Alexeev added that the company's objective is to make vehicle ownership more accessible to mobility entrepreneurs while helping ride-hailing and delivery platforms solve their supply constraints.

Why Is Africa a Key Market for Naran's Growth?

Africa represents a significant opportunity because of the combination of high informal employment, growing mobility demand, and limited access to traditional financing.

Nearly 88% of employment in sub-Saharan Africa is informal, according to data cited by Naran, creating a structural barrier to conventional employment-linked and vehicle financing products.

In Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, mobility constraints are estimated to reduce national income by approximately 4–5%, highlighting the economic impact of insufficient transportation capacity.

At the same time, ride-hailing is becoming an important source of income. According to Oliver Wyman, drivers in Africa can earn up to 130% more than workers in comparable-skill jobs.

The opportunity extends beyond individual driver incomes. Africa's shared mobility market is projected to nearly double by 2030, reaching approximately $8 billion and creating more than 550,000 additional income opportunities, according to the figures cited by Naran.

Côte d'Ivoire, where Naran is expanding, is also among the African markets with relatively high ride-hailing usage.

Together, these trends give Naran an opportunity to connect vehicle financing, fleet supply, driver income, and mobility infrastructure in markets where traditional financial services remain limited.

Why Did Landel Invest $10M in Naran?

Aidar Musin, Managing Partner at Landel, said Naran combines an asset-backed business model with operating experience across emerging markets.

The investment thesis centers on the fact that Naran's financed vehicles are revenue-generating, GPS-tracked assets, creating collateral and recurring cash flows while generating operational data.

The company's fleet management infrastructure also gives the model potential to scale beyond Naran's own fleet.

“Naran is a rare combination in emerging markets: an asset-backed business where every dollar deployed is secured by a revenue-generating, GPS-tracked vehicle,” said Musin.

For Landel, the combination of hard collateral, daily cash flows, unit economics, and scalable fleet technology provides a foundation for Naran's expansion across Latin America and Africa.

What Are Naran's 2030 Expansion Targets?

Naran has set ambitious targets for 2030 as it expands its mobility financing and fleet infrastructure model.

The company aims to:

• Operate across 10 countries
• Create 30,000 income opportunities
• Deploy fleets of 10,000 cars
• Deploy 20,000 motorcycles

The targets would significantly expand Naran's footprint from its current operations across markets in Latin America and Africa, while the latest financing also supports the company's planned entry into MENA.

For the UAE, Naran's expansion illustrates how locally based technology companies can use the country's ecosystem as a launchpad for cross-border operations, while bringing international customers, revenues, and investment activity back into the UAE.

What Does Naran's Funding Mean for Emerging-Market Mobility?

Naran's $10 million financing round highlights a broader opportunity at the intersection of mobility, fintech, fleet management, and asset-backed finance.

Rather than treating vehicle financing as a standalone lending product, Naran is building infrastructure around the entire mobility asset lifecycle—from acquiring and financing vehicles to onboarding drivers, tracking utilisation, managing repayments, and eventually extending technology and financing to third-party fleets.

If Naran achieves its 2030 target of 10 countries, 30,000 income opportunities, 10,000 cars, and 20,000 motorcycles, the company could evolve from a vehicle financing provider into a broader infrastructure platform for mobility operators across emerging markets.

 

 

FAQs

1. What is Naran?
Naran is a UAE-based mobility financing and fleet infrastructure platform founded in 2025. It provides rent-to-own financing for cars and motorcycles to independent ride-hailing and delivery drivers in emerging markets.

2. How much funding has Naran raised?
Naran has raised $10 million in equity and debt financing from Landel, a UAE-based investment firm. The funding will support fleet expansion, new-market entry, and fintech product development.

3. Which countries is Naran expanding into?
Naran is expanding its mobility financing operations across Colombia, Peru, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire, while also planning entry into additional markets, including MENA.

4. What is Naran's business model?
Naran purchases vehicles from manufacturers and provides drivers with 12- to 60-month rent-to-own financing. It partners with ride-hailing and delivery platforms such as Yango and inDrive while using its own fleet management technology to manage vehicles, drivers, payments, utilisation, and maintenance.

5. What are Naran's 2030 goals?
By 2030, Naran aims to operate across 10 countries, create 30,000 income opportunities, and deploy 10,000 cars and 20,000 motorcycles across its markets.