Gozem, a startup from Togo that offers on-demand transportation, food delivery, and courier services through its app, has announced its acquisition of Moneex , a fintech company based in Benin. While the exact value of the deal remains undisclosed, Gozem’s CEO, Raphael Dana, mentioned that Moneex’s founders will become equity stakeholders in Gozem.
This acquisition is aimed at bolstering Gozem’s capabilities by integrating Moneex’s expertise. The goal is to develop a mobile wallet service, which will pave the way for Gozem to obtain a license to offer a financial service known as ‘Gozem Money’ to customers in both Togo and Benin.
Gozem positions itself as a super app, aspiring to achieve the same level of ubiquity and usage as leading Chinese apps like WeChat and AliPay. The company boasts 160,000 unique customers across four countries, including Cameroon and Gabon. Its app provides transportation options such as motorcycles, tricycles, and cars, positioning itself as the French-speaking West Africa equivalent of Uber. Gozem has secured funding of $46.6 million from various investors, including the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
Moneex, previously focused on facilitating remittances between Europe and Benin through cryptocurrencies, changed its direction in 2022. It shifted its focus to offer multi-currency accounts to both businesses and individuals. As they were seeking investment, Gozem stepped in to acquire the company and integrate its services to enhance Gozem’s existing offerings.
This marks Gozem’s second acquisition since its launch in 2018. In 2020, the company acquired Delivroum, a food delivery service in Togo, for an undisclosed amount.
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While the concept of super apps has waned in Africa in recent years, Gozem remains committed to its super app vision. Unlike Chinese-backed startup OPay, which abandoned its super app ambitions after facing regulatory challenges, Gozem continues to thrive. Motorcycles play a vital role in transportation in cities like Lome and Cotonou, serving as the backbone for services such as food delivery and courier services. These regions have effectively enforced safety regulations, making commercial motorcycle use safe and secure.
Gozem’s strategy includes offering value-added services, like providing credit to enable users to purchase cars, with the aim of attracting more users to its platform. Additionally, bringing a payments company on board to create ‘Gozem Money’ aligns with its growth plans, which involve expanding into other countries in the CFA currency region and exploring further acquisition opportunities.
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Raphael Dana, the CEO of Gozem, expressed confidence in their choice to start in Togo and expand into the Francophone region, citing the attraction of currency stability. They deliberately chose a market that was not too large to facilitate learning without intense competition, as seen in larger markets like Nigeria. The CEO emphasized that the demand for on-demand transportation remains a fundamental and massive daily need in their chosen regions.
Gozem Moneex
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard