BMJ Score: 3.5
Market
Transparency
Team
Token
Adoption
Quick Summary
173 crypto investors read thisCommentary
Drife’s mission is to apply blockchain technology in the local transportation industry to establish trustlessness and combat current inefficiencies. This is a great application for blockchain because of the security of cryptographic solutions, tokenization model, and transparency. Today, ride-hailing platforms are heavily centralized, and the incumbents have established market superiority that allows them to rapidly increase fares for passengers and incorporate excessive transaction fees for drivers. Drife wants to leverage the blockchain to eliminate these problems and redistribute value back to the community while enhancing transparency. Specifically, there will be no commission on this platform because 100 percent of the fare paid by commuters will go to the drivers. We really like that Drife is the first platform in this niche to target a decentralized ride-hailing economy. The platform itself will be developed on the EOS blockchain, and while it will not be live until Q2 of 2019,there is a working demo version of the platform. One area we would like to see improved is the size of the team. The 12-person group, while credible, only lists three developers. However, the project does feature six advisors, one of which is the CEO of Xera Technologie. The project also lists some partners, one of which is EOS, but we would like to see additional partnerships that will help drive user adoption. The DRIFE token is a basic utility token where commuters can get a bonus if they pay for rides using DRIFE token or for referring others to the platform. The biggest selling point is that Drife platform has the lead time advantage for a very strong blockchain use case. We like that the platform will directly solve the problem of unsustainable driver income while improving the quality of rides for passengers. Our suggestions for the Drife team are to increase their presence through additional marketing efforts, and to expand their strategic partnerships. Overall, this is a very impressive project with real world application!
Investment Information:
- How to invest: Once the presale begins, a button will appear on the home page that says “join presale”. All you have to do is click the button and follow the instructions on the registration page.
- Discount: 20% discount throughout presale
- Eligibility: Restricted countries include the United States and China.
- Token Price: 1 DRF token is worth $0.25 (not including bonus).
- Jurisdiction: United Kingdom
- Minimum contribution: 0.1 ETH.
Market: 3.5
- Problem addressed/solved: Drife aims to solve the most pressing issues facing ride-sharing stakeholders in the world today. A few of those problems include centralization, unsustainable driver income, lack of transparency, surge prices, and a lack of loyalty from commuters. It’s a well-known fact that drivers for ride-sharing companies receive the short end of the stick and often only make minimum wage with little to no communication by the governing entity. This business model has destroyed the connection between drivers and companies, which Drife will use to its advantage as it looks to improve driver experience.
- Target customers/customer/ segments/verticals: Drife wants to target the ride-sharing market and, more specifically, the drivers that currently work in said market. The drivers who feel the most neglected, underrepresented, and underpaid will find that Drife offers a more compelling experience than the existing competition.
- Value creation: Drife wants to create the greatest possible value for the drivers. After joining the Drife DAPP, drivers will experience a more stable and sustainable income, no commission pay-out, network building, and passive income generation.The core principles on which Drife wants to expand are transparency and decentralization. Drivers suffer the most from a lack of transparency in the ride-sharing market while also dealing with a strong centralized power. A transparent, decentralized platform will make for a more honest and fruitful experience for everyone involved.
- Competition: The obvious competition comes from Uber and Lyft, the two most dominant ride-hailing platforms. Having said that, plenty of other companies have been trying to break into this market such as Waze and “last-mile” scooter transportation services like Lime and Bird. Drife has the most obvious competitive advantage in its no-commission policy that guarantees the drivers 100 percent of the fare rather than a percentage that can fluctuate over time. Having said that, getting people to choose a different form of transportation on the commuter side of things will likely take a lot of marketing and, most importantly, time.
- Market size/potential: The current valuation for the ride-hailing market is about $36 billion USD. Analysts have projected this sum will be approximately $285 billion USD by 2030. Revenue forecasts for ride-sharing platforms will also likely exceed $100 billion USD by 2022. The future of transportation is in ride-sharing, but right now two behemoths in Uber and Lyft have total control over the market.
- Regulatory risks: The biggest regulatory issues will be around the regulatory mandates of cryptocurrencies. Drife will also have to monitor customer data protection regulations like GDPR.
Transparency: 4
- Investor value: The value of the DRF token is heavily dependent on the number of users actively ordering rides on the platform and using DRF as their primary form of payment. Since other forms of payment may be used on the platform such as fiat and other crypto, Drife has devised a way to incentivize the use of DRF. The platform offers discounts, loyalty programs, and other “bonuses” for the use of DRF as a form of payment on the platform. Having said that, a boost in the user base could drive the value of the coin exponentially as users find the benefits of using it on the platform.
- Disclosures: Drife has a straightforward website, top-notch whitepaper, and well-organized lite paper. It has certainly covered its bases in terms of documents, and each one contains relevant information that investors crave when making decisions on potential investments. The one glaring hole in its disclosures is the lack of an MVP, but it plans to use pre-ICO funds to develop the MVP and potentially have it completed before the end of the main sale.
- Token distribution: 50% public sale, 10% private sale, 10% social incentive, 5% development pool, 5% team members, 10% founders, 3% bounties and airdrop, 5% referrals/rewards/bonuses, and 2% advisors.
- Use of proceeds: 30% product development, 25% marketing, 25% operations and office, 15% legal, and 5% reserve.
- Caps: Soft cap: 32.5M DRF; Hard cap: 162.5M DRF
Team: 4
- Track record: Drife has a strong 12-man team with an additional six advisors. The CEO & Co-Founder, Firdosh Sheikh, has leading industry experience in Capital Markets and IT, while her partner, Surya Ranjith, previously worked in hedge fund management. The executive team comes from a finance background while the rest of the team supports the development and marketing of the product. One area of concern is the lack of blockchain expertise on the core team. It appears that Drife will try and cover that hole using the knowledge from its talented advisory group.
- Integrity: The Drife team has young, talented individuals; there’s no questioning that. However, the co-founders have only a few years experience in their respective industries and will be taking on the role of entrepreneur for the first time on a large scale.
- Firdosh Sheikh, Co-Founder & CEO
- Surya Ranjith, Co-Founder & CFO
- Mudit Marda, Lead Blockchain Developer
- Andrew Willis, Chief Strategy Officer
Token Mechanics: 3
- MVP: Drife has yet to issue an MVP as all funds contributed during the pre-sale will be used for development, testing, and release of a Minimum Viable Product. The team expects Phase 1 of Drife to follow quickly after the MVP in Q2 of 2019. Having said that, Drife has an interactive UI/UX experience where you can walk through the app as if it were downloaded on your laptop. Just follow this link to check it out.
- Token use case: The Drife token, DRF, is a utility token that will also function as a currency within the platform. It will be used to execute ride payments, access loyalty rewards, and stake functions on the platform. Drife wants to create a community for those who download and join its decentralized app. Rewards points and loyalty programs play a huge part in the project and the DRF token is at the center of all of it. Lastly, users who pay with DRF will receive discounts on every single ride they order.
- Value-added: The DRF token allows the Drife platform to operate in a decentralized manner, which is one of Drife’s competitive advantages over the existing competition. Decentralization aims at shifting the focus from a central authority to the drivers, most of whom currently receive little to no benefits in the form of fair compensation, workers benefits, and active transparency from existing ride-sharing companies.
- Decentralization: Drife is a fully decentralized ride-hailing platform powered by blockchain.
- Token Supply: Total supply of 325 million DRF tokens will be released on the 1st day of product launch. After that, additional tokens would be generated deterministically and democratically after every period. Thus, it’s not a fixed token supply, indicating potential dilution down the road.
User Adoption: 2.5
- Technical difficulty/investment expertise needed: Drife is an easy-to-understand concept as it’s already been implemented in the forms of Uber and Lyft. Drife is a decentralized ride-hailing platform powered by blockchain that looks to solve the most pressing issues in ride-sharing today.
- Halo effect: Drife lists EOS, 21 Cryptos, and ADVFN as its official partners. It’s clear that EOS will support Drife via its scalable blockchain, but 21 Cryptos and ADVFN will not have as much of a direct impact, nor do they add a recognizable brand name to the project.
- Buzz: Drife has been featured on some lower level ICO rating sites, but has yet to gain exposure from more significant news outlets. Both the Twitter and Facebook pages have over 2,000 followers and actually receive solid engagement in terms of likes/shares per post. As seen above, Drife plans on putting 25% of its ICO funds towards marketing, which definitely couldn’t hurt as the team has an extremely interesting project and simply need to get the word out.
