Africa’s mobility industry is currently a hive of activity. Barely a few days after Egypt’s SWVL announced the acquisition of Spain’s Shotl, Plentywaka, a Lagos and Toronto-based mobility business, has raised a $1.2 million seed round to extend its operations after graduating from the Techstars Toronto accelerator program last month. The company also announced that it had completed the acquisition of Ghanaian mobility startup Stabus, but declined to disclose the purchase price.
“Plentywaka’s acquisition of Stabus is a firm statement about our commitment to grow and build the largest shared mobility startup in Africa, one country at a time. Isidore is a brilliant entrepreneur and we are excited about having him and his team execute our plans for the Ghanaian market,” CEO Onyeka Akumah said in a statement.
The Xchange, a Canadian venture capital firm, led the round, with participation from SOSV and Shock Ventures, as well as a follow-on investment from Techstars Toronto. The seed round included angel investors from Canada, Africa, and the United States, as well as Nigerian businesses Argentil Capital Partners and ODBA & Co Ventures.
Why The Investors Invested
The startup’s traction and team greatly assisted it in closing the latest round of funding. Plentywaka claims to have gained over 80,000 users and completed over half a million rides since its launch in September 2019.
“We are incredibly excited by our investment in Plentywaka. Techstars is a huge believer in the future of Africa and a proud supporter of African entrepreneurs. Onyeka is a two-time Techstars founder which deepens this relationship further,” managing director of Techstars Sunil Sharma said in a statement.
“The Xchange is on a mission to fuel purpose-driven founders with the capital and resources they need to realize the world-changing potential of their ideas. Given Onyeka’s proven track record, his team’s undeniable thirst for making an impact, and Plentywaka’s impressive growth, we knew this was an opportunity we wanted to invest in,” managing partner at lead investor The Xchange, Todd Finch said.
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A Look At What Plentwaka Does
Co-founded in September 2019, by the quartet of Afolabi Oluseyi, Enagwolor Johnny, John Shaibu, and Onyeka Akumah, Plentywaka available on Google Playstore and IOS App store, requires just a two-step process to schedule a journey and book a seat for convenient movement around a city.
The company currently serves passengers in 21 cities across Nigeria and has over 900 vehicles ranging from cars to vans to buses.
When Plentywaka Ghana becomes live on September 16, travelers in Accra will be able to use the service. Following Accra, the expansion will be replicated in six other African countries within 24 months. Plentywaka is also raising its Series A to support these expansion initiatives, according to Akumah.
Figures released by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics in 2018 revealed that there are 11,653,871 million vehicles in Nigeria. 6,768,756, representing about 58.08 per cent are commercial vehicles while 4,739,939 (40.67 per cent) are private vehicles. Nigeria’s population has recently been projected by the United Nations to have reached a staggering 200 million. The implication of this is that 6.7 million commercial vehicles cannot serve a population of 200 million or more. Out of the 6.7 million commercial cars in Nigeria, only about 200,000 commercial vehicles are on the roads in Lagos alone, with a population of more than 17 million people.
This is even worsened by the fact that a reported 70% of people in Nigeria’s capital rely on public transport due to the lack of a robust transport system. Plentywaka hopes to help resolve this problem.
The startup is pioneering what SWVL is doing in Egypt, and its adding to the growing number of e-hailing bus-sharing services available to public transport users in Africa. Recently, Uber launched its first global bus service in Egypt, after acquiring local startup Careem in a $3.1 billion deal. SWVL which had mulled plans to expand to Lagos, Nigeria, even ahead of Plentywaka, leads the continent’s e-hailing bus-sharing service, with major presence in Egypt and Kenya, and Pakistan. The Cairo-headquartered startup is backed by some of top regional VCs including BECO Capital, Raed Ventures, Oman Technology Fund, and global names like Endeavor Catalyst. Other notable regional players include Kenya-based bus services QuickBus and Little.
Read also:Egyptian Student Transport Startup Schoolz Raises Six-figure Pre-Seed Funding
Stabus, on the other hand, opened its doors in Ghana a month after Plentywaka did. Isidore Kpotufe, the company’s co-founder and CEO, stated that the company has since moved over 100,000 people within Ghana’s capital city of Accra, utilizing various vehicles.
Stabus’ 12,000-user business has been renamed to Plentywaka Ghana as a result of the acquisition. Multinationals like MTN and GB Foods are among Stabus’ (now Plentywaka Ghana) customers. Meanwhile, Kpotufe takes over as the new company’s Country Manager.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer