UAE mobility fintech Naran raises $10m from Landel for expansion

UAE-based mobility fintech Naran has raised $10 million in combined equity and debt financing from Landel, a UAE investment firm. The company, founded in 2025 by Bayaskhalan Alexeev and Alexander Gubarev, both alumni of Yango, provides rent-to-own financing for cars and motorcycles. Its customers are ride-hailing and delivery drivers in markets where bank credit is hard to obtain.

Naran buys vehicles directly from manufacturers and partners with ride-hailing and delivery platforms, including Yango and inDrive. Drivers pay off the vehicle over terms that run from 12 to 60 months. The company built its own fleet management system to handle driver onboarding, payment scheduling, utilisation tracking, telematics and maintenance. Every completed contract also builds a driver's first formal repayment history. That record matters in emerging markets, where the absence of credit history keeps many workers outside the formal banking system.

Bayaskhalan Alexeev, CEO and co-founder, said drivers in emerging markets cannot access traditional bank loans because their income is irregular or their credit histories are limited. He described Naran's goal as making vehicle ownership accessible to mobility entrepreneurs. Every financed vehicle, he added, puts another active driver on the platforms Naran works with.

The company operates in Colombia, Peru, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 88% of employment is informal, which explains why a vehicle payment plan tied to daily earnings can fit better than a conventional loan. In Abidjan, mobility constraints are estimated to reduce national income by 4-5%. Côte d'Ivoire already ranks among the African countries with the highest ride-hailing usage. Consulting firm Oliver Wyman has found that drivers in Africa earn up to 130% more than workers in comparable-skill jobs. Africa's shared mobility market is expected to nearly double by 2030, reaching approximately $8 billion, and is the fastest-growing shared mobility market of any region in the world. That growth is expected to create more than 550,000 additional income opportunities.

Naran will use the $10 million to expand its fleet in existing markets, enter new markets including MENA, and roll out new fintech products. Paraguay is slated for September 2026. The company also plans to offer its fleet management technology as a SaaS product and provide asset-backed financing for fleet expansion. Its stated ambition is to become an asset-backed financing platform for emerging markets. Where the economics justify it, Naran may acquire fleet operators outright.

Aidar Musin, managing partner at Landel, said the firm was drawn to a model that generates hard collateral, daily cash flows and proven unit economics. He said Naran's fleet management infrastructure makes the model scalable beyond the company's own fleet.

By 2030, Naran aims to operate across 10 countries, create 30,000 income opportunities, and deploy fleets of 10,000 cars and 20,000 motorcycles. This expansion is also a channel for UAE-based innovation and cross-border business growth. Landel's backing ties Gulf capital to mobility infrastructure in Latin America, Africa and eventually the Middle East. Each financed vehicle is meant to become a revenue-generating asset on someone else's ride-hailing platform, rather than simply a sale.