SWVL, an Egyptian ride-sharing startup, has reported its third-quarter earnings in advance of its planned first public offerings. In the third quarter of 2021, the mass transit company, which provides B2C and B2B/B2G solutions to make transportation more inexpensive, dependable, and easy for its consumers and corporate clients, said it had 507,000 B2C users.
“Combination of high user retention and low acquisition cost (both as a result of ability to offer a reliable, safe and convenient ride up to 80% cheaper than private transport) led to strong active user growth,” SWVL states in the earnings report.
According to the company, the increase in its B2C userbase reflects a 6x increase in the last three years and a 3.1x increase quarter over quarter.
As of September this year, the startup reported $66 million in annual recurring revenue. SWVL made $16 million in the third quarter of this year alone, according to the report, reflecting a 14x increase over the previous three years.
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While it took the startup six months to reach the 50k bookings milestone in Cairo, Egypt, where it first began in 2017, it only took two months to reach the same milestone in Islamabad, Pakistan, where it launched two years later in 2019.
“Swvl plans to continue focus on growth for the remaining cities to reach critical mass faster and generate levers to optimize the economics in a sustainable manner,” SWVL notes.
SWVL credits its first success in Cairo to cutting-edge technology solutions such as demand estimate, demand-based capacity allocation, automated dynamic routing and pricing algorithms, and supplier bidding platforms, as well as the Swvl team’s perfect execution.
Since its beginning, the company has served over 1.8 million consumers (excluding B2C/B2G users). It has also received over 61.3 million reservations and onboarded over 19.4 thousand drivers so far.
A Look At What SWVL Does
Swvl, which was founded in 2017 by Mostafa Kandil, Mahmoud Nouh, and Ahmed Sabbah, began as a bus-hailing service in Egypt, allowing users to travel inside a city by booking seats on fixed-route buses. Later, the service was expanded to Kenya and Pakistan, and the company’s headquarters were relocated to Dubai. In several markets, the company now offers intercity travel, car-based ride-sharing, and corporate services. Swvl produced $26 million in annual gross revenue, according to its SPAC presentation, with a negative EBITDA of $29 million (which means the company lost $29 million). It stated that by 2025, it hopes to increase its yearly gross revenue to $1 billion.
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Swvl services both consumers and businesses in its major countries of Egypt, Kenya, and Pakistan through Daily, Travel, and Business solutions, however it solely serves businesses in some of the new regions it has just entered, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Swvl’s transportation-as-a-service business offering allows schools, universities, and corporations to create customized transportation alternatives for their students or employees using Swvl’s software and fleet. In the next five years, the company wants to be in 20 countries on five continents.
The Cairo-based business has raised over $100 million to date, including an unannounced fundraising round earlier this year. Vostok New Ventures Global, Beco Capital, Raed Ventures, Sawari Ventures, MSA Capital, Silicon Badia, and Oman Technology Fund are among its prior investors. Its most recent public investment round was a $42 million Series B-2 round in 2019, following which it surreptitiously raised another $20 million in early 2020.
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Mostafa had previously worked as a market launcher for the Middle East’s largest ride-hailing company, Careem. Swvl co-founders Mahmoud Nouh (COO) and Ahmed Sabbah (CTO) both departed the company to start their own businesses in October 2019 and March 2021, respectively.
SWVL revenue users SWVL revenue users
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