Two months after clinching unicorn status with a $2.1 billion valuation, vehicle-financing startup Moove is pulling the plug on its home market. The Lagos-born fintech powerhouse announced it will wind down its Nigerian operations, walking away from the country that seeded its global ride-hail empire six years ago.

The company softened the blow with an unprecedented parting gift, pledging to transfer outright ownership of eligible vehicles to drivers without charge. The handover covers a fleet valued at approximately N35 billion, or $26.3 million, wiping away remaining loan balances and transferring titles directly to active motorists on Oct. 1.

A costly farewell gift

Every local employee will also receive a free vehicle under the exit package, company officials said in a statement. Moove did not disclose its formal reasons for departing, but the retreat follows closely on the heels of Uber Technologies Inc. shutting its own Nigerian transport operations just weeks earlier.

Chief Executive Ladi Delano framed the move as an emotional homecoming closure rather than a retreat. In a statement, Delano emphasized that early Nigerian adopters validated the business model long before international capital arrived, laying the groundwork for what eventually became an asset-heavy multinational platform spread across three continents.

Scaling far past Lagos

Delano noted that more than 9,000 Nigerian drivers cycled through Moove’s rental and drive-to-own programs, generating roughly N57 billion, or $43 million, in gross revenue. While local operations are wrapping up, Moove manages roughly 42,000 vehicles across 29 cities in 13 countries, booking $420 million in annualized recurring revenue.

The startup built its international presence through an aggressive combination of organic launches and bold overseas acquisitions, including Brazil’s Kovi and Japan’s Tokyo Taxi. That rapid expansion caught the eye of deep-pocketed global backers, culminating in an August funding blitz that pushed the firm well past the $2 billion valuation mark.

Betting on driverless fleets

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. led that $250 million Series C round, backed by Toyota’s Woven Capital and Ion Pacific. The marquee syndicate also attracted BlueCrest Capital Management and Sona Asset Management, joining early investors BlackRock Inc., Franklin Templeton, and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Moove is now reallocating that dry powder toward physical infrastructure for autonomous fleets, shifting away from emerging-market consumer credit. The strategy centers on proprietary depots known as “Nests,” which clean, recharge, and service autonomous robotaxis around the clock as commercial self-driving operations scale up across global metropolitan markets.

The pivot to autonomy

To execute the autonomous pivot, Moove plans to boost its specialized engineering and fleet management unit by more than 220 percent. Headcount across that division will jump from 150 workers to roughly 500 by year-end, signaling that its future lies in automated transit rather than traditional street-level microloans.