Urent forms an alliance with Drivemate

Founder and CEO, Omar Al Ashi collaborates with Silratth Sukwatthanasiri, co-founder and CEO of Drivemate on fleet sharing to enable rapid expansion

Urent had recently formed an alliance with P2P car rental startup ‘Drivemate’ to enable both parties to expand their operations using fleet sharing. Drivemate aims to become an exclusive host on Urent providing a fleet that exceeds 4,000 cars to cater for Urent customers who are planning a stay in Thailand, or residents in Thailand who wish to experience Urent. Moreover, Urent will also be sharing their fleet size with Drivemate to enable their customers to book vehicles in the UAE using the Drivemate App.

Drivemate, founded in 2017 as a P2P car sharing company currently has more than 4,000 vehicles on its fleet and operates in 35 cities in Thailand. They have successfully secured funds from notable investors including Fortune 500 startups, Netsol a Nasdaq listed company, Isuzu UNT, and Colopl next from Japan.

Sukwatthanasiri, said: “We share the same vision and enthusiasm to improve this industry. Cars are not being utilised more than 95 per cent of the time, let alone the 20 per cent depreciation per year. Our goal is to help those owners maximise utilisation, and renters enjoy a seamless journey. We plan to become a global player and expand to more countries. This is our first step towards exploring the UAE.”

On the other hand, Urent, founded in 2018, has been operating for 11 months now across all seven emirates in the UAE. Dubbed as the Airbnb of Mobility by Arabian Business, Urent is the first marketplace that offers a P2P experience connecting hosts to renters catering for not just cars, but chauffeur service, jet skis, yachts, and even motorcycles.

Al Ashi, said: “I truly believe that taking this step will open more opportunities for both parties, yes competition is healthy, but joining forces can do wonders in my humble opinion.”

The alliance is planned to be effective before the end of Q1 2022.