UAE mobility fintech Naran raises $10 million in equity and debt
UAE-based mobility fintech Naran has raised $10 million in equity and debt from Landel to expand fleet financing across Africa and Latin America.
Naran, a United Arab Emirates-based mobility financing and fleet infrastructure platform, has raised $10 million in equity and debt financing from Landel, a United Arab Emirates-based investment firm.
The capital will support fleet scaling in Colombia, Peru, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, entry into new markets including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the rollout of new fintech products.
Founding and operating model
Founded in 2025 by Bayaskhalan Alexeev and Alexander Gubarev, both alumni of Yango, where they launched and scaled ride-hailing operations across Latin America and Africa, Naran provides rent-to-own financing for cars and motorcycles. Independent drivers can access vehicles through terms ranging from 12 to 60 months.
The company buys vehicles directly from manufacturers and works with ride-hailing and delivery platforms including Yango and inDrive to put underbanked drivers on the road.
Naran has built a fleet management system that runs its operations across all markets, covering driver onboarding, payment scheduling, utilisation tracking, telematics, and maintenance. A single technology platform and consistent operating model allow it to scale efficiently across geographies.
Asset-backed financing and SaaS plans
The vehicle is the first product. Each contract builds a driver’s first formal repayment history, the foundation for Naran’s broader ambition to become an asset-backed financing platform for emerging markets, where every product, from vehicles to future credit offerings, is secured by real assets and real repayment data.
Naran plans to open its technology stack to third-party fleet operators across its markets. It intends to offer fleet management software and internal automation tools as a software as a service (SaaS) product, provide asset-backed debt financing for fleet expansion, and acquire operators where the economics justify it. Under this multi-fleet model, every fleet operator in Naran’s markets becomes a potential customer rather than a competitor.
“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. Our goal is to make vehicle ownership accessible to mobility entrepreneurs, helping them increase their income and build financial security. At the same time, we solve the biggest constraint for ride-hailing and delivery platforms in these markets: supply. Every vehicle we finance is an active driver added to our partners’ marketplaces,” said Bayaskhalan Alexeev, CEO and co-founder of Naran.
For platforms, Naran functions as a supply engine: every financed vehicle arrives with a vetted, onboarded driver, and fleet utilisation data is shared with partners to maximise hours on the road. The company is open to supply partnerships with ride-hailing and delivery platforms entering or scaling in Latin America, Africa, and MENA.
Market context in sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 88% of employment is informal, limiting access to vehicle financing and employment. In cities such as Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, mobility constraints are estimated to reduce national income by 4-5%.
Côte d’Ivoire ranks among the African countries with the highest ride-hailing usage on the continent. Ride-hailing is also one of the most attractive jobs available: drivers in Africa earn up to 130% more than workers in comparable-skill jobs. The continent’s shared mobility market is expected to nearly double by 2030 to approximately $8 billion, creating more than 550,000 additional income opportunities, the fastest growth of any region in the world.
“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, run by a team with deep operational experience in these exact markets. The model generates hard collateral, daily cash flows, and proven unit economics, and the fleet management infrastructure behind it makes the model scalable well beyond the company’s own fleet. We look forward to supporting Naran’s next phase of growth across Latin America and Africa,” said Aidar Musin, Managing Partner at Landel.
2030 targets
By 2030, Naran aims to:
- Operate across 10 countries
- Create 30,000 income opportunities
- Deploy fleets of 10,000 cars and 20,000 motorcycles
