We’re investing in OCN via Deepwater Venture Fund II based on the potential for dramatic growth as the company enables gig workers to flourish throughout the Americas.
We believe OCN will become a large and diversified financial services platform, initially focusing on serving gig workers in emerging markets, followed by expansion into developed regions.
OCN is a financial services partner for gig workers, currently operating in the ridesharing space. Using proprietary data and analytics to reduce the risk of default, the company makes vehicles available for qualified rideshare drivers on a subscription basis. Customers that obtain a vehicle from OCN use the company’s digital wallet enabling OCN to collect data, assess risk, and provide additional financial services:
- In emerging markets, a low-single-digit percentage of potential rideshare drivers are approved to purchase a vehicle and upfront fees at the time of purchase are often prohibitive. Beyond vehicle acquisition, financial services available for the unbanked, or those with limited credit history, are nearly non-existent.
- OCN’s go-to-market strategy begins with enabling gig workers to acquire vehicles for use with rideshare services. There are ~5M gig workers in the Americas; at an annual vehicle subscription of $10-12k/year this is a total addressable market of >$50B, of which no player has > 1% market share.
- OCN partners with some of the industries’ largest platforms. For example, Uber and DiDi work with OCN to provide vehicles to gig workers.
- Beyond the company’s vehicle-specific offering, OCN will leverage proprietary data from its users to provide additional financial services, thereby adding an addressable market larger than that of the current rideshare opportunity.
The continued growth of the gig economy and the need for the gig economy workers who power that growth to have access to financial services are undeniable trends. Initially focusing on the rideshare space in emerging markets, OCN enables, and potentially accelerates, this rising tide.