Moove, a Nigeria-based mobility startup with a fintech touch, has raised $23 million in Series A funding to help it develop swiftly throughout the African continent, with new venture capital companies entering the African tech startup investing space for the first time. Moove also said that it had raised $40 million in debt financing in addition to its $23 million Series A, thereby increasing its total funding to $68.5 million.

The Series A financing was led by Speedinvest and Left Lane Capital. Other investors in the round — mostly new faces in the African mobility space — included DCM, Clocktower Technology Ventures, thelatest.ventures, LocalGlobe, Tekton, FJ Labs, Palm Drive Capital, Roka Works, KAAF Investments, Class 5 Global, Victoria van Lennep, co-founder of Lendable. Others are Verod, Kepple Africa Ventures, and Emso Asset Management, one of Moove’s existing lenders. Moove’s investment is the first in this round for several of its US backers.

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“It became clear to us that people aren’t buying cars in Africa because there’s no access to finance. When you look anywhere else in the world, you have financing in most parts of the developed world when you try to buy a car. It’s that way in the UK, or Europe and the US. And that’s what’s driving mobility drive and vehicle sales,” Co-founder Ladi Delano said. 

Moove will be able to grow and extend into new markets thanks to the Series A funding. It allows the company ammunition to develop and launch new goods and services aimed at increasing market share in a competitive sector where Autochek of Nigeria and FlexClub of South Africa are making substantial inroads.

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Last year, Moove raised $5.5 million in a seed round. The founders and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave and a key partner in the company, provided the majority of the cash.

Why The Investors Invested

Investment in Moove came largely because of the traction the startup has garnered over time, including its previous fundraising operations. Over 19,000 drivers use Moove’s platform, with another 13,000 on the waiting list. Moove-funded cars have also completed over 850,000 Uber trips, according to Delano, who claims that the company has expanded by 60% month over month since last year.

Moov also appears to have attracted investors by integrating mobility and fintech, as well as its partnership with Uber. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Moove is Uber’s only auto loan and vehicle supply partner. To underwrite loans, the company embeds its alternative credit-scoring engine, giving it access to unique performance and revenue metrics. It gives these drivers loans by selling them new cars and financing up to 95% of the purchase price within five days of signing up. They have the option of repaying their loans over 24, 36, or 48 months, utilizing a portion of their weekly Uber earnings.

“Moove’s technology is fundamentally changing access to mobility and empowering thousands to earn a new source of income,” said managing partner at Left Lane Capital, Dan Ahrens. “As we look ahead, the potential for that technology and the Moove team to expand even further is very exciting. They have the opportunity to become a full-service mobility fintech and expand their offerings to insurance and other financial services.”

And finally, the team. Delano and Odunsi are Nigerians born in the United Kingdom who received their education at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, and MIT. Delano has always been a businessman. Odunsi, on the other hand, worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and at McKinsey as a management consultant.
Both reconnected years later (after parting ways in their teens) to operate a venture capital firm named Grace Lake Partners, and have now launched three successful non-tech enterprises in Africa. Moove is their first foray into the tech world, and Delano describes it as the fastest-growing company he’s ever managed.

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“With Ladi and Jide at the helm of a world-class team, and their unique approach to vehicle financing, Moove has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting tech companies in Africa,” said the general partner at Speedinvest, Stefan Klestil. “The company’s expansion to three cities in under 12 months demonstrates the huge demand for vehicle financing in Africa, where just five percent of new cars are purchased with financing, compared to 92 percent in Europe.”

A Look At What The Startup Does

Moove, founded by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi in 2019, is using a revenue-based vehicle financing strategy to democratize vehicle ownership.
Moove, on the other hand, uses its model to target solely mobility entrepreneurs.

Drivers who operate in the mobility space are considered mobility entrepreneurs (car-hailing, ride-hailing, bus-hailing, among others). Moove’s services are used by a small percentage of Africans, but Delano claims the opportunity for mobility businesses is huge.

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However, in the next months, Moove plans to expand its financing options to include other vehicle classes and kinds, such as buses and trucks.

Moove was founded in 2019, however it did not go live until June 2020. Moove has aggressively scaled in its first year of business. Lagos, Accra, and Johannesburg are among the places where the company works, with its headquarters in the Netherlands.

In the next years, Moove’s goal is for at least 60% of the vehicles it finances to be electric or hybrid. In addition, the company is attempting to promote gender equality by raising the number of female drivers utilizing its platform to 50%.

Creating wallets for drivers who do not have bank accounts to make and accept payments is an intriguing aspect of Moove’s upcoming goals. The functionality is now only available in Ghana, but it will be available in other areas soon.

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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