Nigerian Mobility Startup, Treepz, Acquires Uganda’s Ugabus, Raises $2.8M Seed

Ugabus, a Ugandan bus firm that combines inter-city bus carriers, has been bought by Treepz (previously Plentywaka) a mobility-as-a-service platform in Nigeria . While the specifics of the deal were not disclosed, Treepz CEO and co-founder Onyeka Akumah stated that the acquisition was made possible by a recent $1.5 million investment that served as a follow-on to a previous seed round.

“We’ll be able to service most of the major cities in Uganda, but the good thing about East Africa is they have very seamless borders between the countries, so it’s easy to move from Uganda to Rwanda, Uganda to Tanzania, Tanzania to Burundi, and so forth,” Akumah said in an interview. “The plan is to extend into Tanzania and Burundi first. Those are places we will pay attention to next year. We are also really interested in Ethiopia. So the same thing we were doing with Ghana, across Ghana to Togo and Benin from Nigeria for the West African region. So next year, we will consolidate on our positions on East Africa and West Africa and start collapsing into on in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Treepz CEO and co-founder Onyeka Akumah
Treepz CEO and co-founder Onyeka Akumah

The seed extension, which included new investors such as Japan’s Uncovered Fund, Dubai’s Blanford Capital and Jonomi Capital, and Egypt’s Jedar Capital, builds on Treepz’s $1.3 million round in August, which was used to buy Stabus, a Ghanaian bus firm, and expand across the continent. Treepz has raised $2.8 million in the seed round.

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Treepz has also recently acquired money from Google’s African Investment Fund, which it plans to utilize to aggressively expand its on-demand ride-sharing and intercity bus ticketing services in Africa. Treepz had previously stated that it intended to expand as far as Toronto, where it received funding after being accepted into Techstars Toronto, but it is now focusing on helping to digitize and modernize Africa’s transportation ecosystem.

“Treepz is building the most important mobility infrastructure in Africa’s megacities,” Takuma Terakubo, CEO and general partner of Uncovered Fund, said in a statement. “The development of public transportation is essential in African countries where urbanization is advancing.”

Why The Acquisition?

Treepz’s initial step into the East African market will be through this acquisition, which will see Treepz entirely absorb all of Ugabus’ business and staff. According to Treepz, Ugabus, which will be renamed Treepz Uganda on December 1, presently has 70% of the country’s bus operators on its platform, with over 50,000 clients using the service to travel between Ugandan cities.

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Treepz Uganda will begin with intercity and corporate services when it starts this week.

A Look At What Treepz Does

Previously known as Plentywaka before its rebranding, Treepz’s business model in Lagos, its hometown, comprises of three verticals. “Daily Treepz,” the main service, is similar to Uber for minivans and buses. It provides riders in a city with scheduled daily itineraries from bus stop to bus stop, as well as the ability to book seats and pay via a digital wallet system. The startup’s intercity bus service, called “Travel Treepz,” allows Treepz to function as an aggregator for other bus firms, similar to how Ugabus works. Finally, Treepz just launched corporate bookings, a service that provides transportation for corporations.

“We will look at the opportunity of doing Daily Treepz there in the future, but for now it’s easier for us to launch there with what we already have and what the team is already used to,” said Akumah.

Because Treepz is a daily service that people use twice a day, five days a week, and spend an average of $2 to $3 per day, said Akumah, intracity travels account for the majority of Treepz clients.

“Bus operators are starting to see us as a technology partner against competition,” said Akumah. “The Treepz technology as an inventory management system can now be used by the bus operators to power their different systems. And that … turns out to be a tremendous opportunity for growth for us. So we see a future where as we aggregate bus operators for city to city, and we also work with bus operators within cities. It just grows the numbers over time around the transactions that happen on our platform.”

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 write

Plentywaka Partners Autochek for Hassle-free Vehicle Inspection

Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder and CEO of Plentywaka

Nigeria’s largest shared mobility platform Plentywaka which provides safe, comfortable and convenient rides on demand using cutting edge technology has announced yet another groundbreaking partnership to take its services to another level. As part of its continued efforts to revolutionize the public transportation sector in Nigeria, the Techstars funded startup has today partnered with Autochek Africa to facilitate vehicle inspection, financing and maintenance for its teeming number of vehicle partners.  

 Autochek which was founded in 2020 has a 360-degree automotive solution that offers technology-driven vehicle financing, warranty and maintenance services. With a presence in Nigeria and Ghana, the company also provides a strong network of after-sales services that preserve and ease vehicle ownership experience across Africa.

Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder and CEO of Plentywaka
Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder and CEO of Plentywaka

This partnership comes in the wake of plans to expand the Plentywaka Dailywaka ride-sharing service to over 7 new routes in a few days.

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The strategic alliance will facilitate hassle-free vehicle inspection and hire-purchase for prospective Plentywaka vehicle partners, within a short period of time. Plentywaka has in the last 20 months completed over 355,000 rides and recently expanded its Dailywaka (In-city) service to include more vehicle options like mini-vans.

This vehicle has been reintroduced in a bid to increase vehicle availability for its teeming number of riders as well as to help them split fares and avoid ridiculous surge fares and first/last mile issues for heroes (drivers).

Speaking on the partnership Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder and CEO of Plentywaka said“Just like Plentywaka, Autocheck Africa was born out of a need to disrupt an underutilized and unstructured industry.

Now, a partner or heroes on Plentywaka can onboard their vehicle within 30 minutes and even get vehicle financial assistance on request.

Our values align and we are excited about the ease and flexibility that this partnership presents for all our vehicle partners across Africa starting with Nigeria.”

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According to Etop Ikpe, founder and CEO of Autochek said that “This partnership presents a huge opportunity to empower Plentywaka’s vehicle partners through financing as well as enables us, at Autochek, to continue to fulfil our mission to enhance African consumers experience by creating a single marketplace for their automotive needs.

By undergoing our 150-point check inspection and taking advantage of our routine maintenance service, Plentywaka’s vehicles are kept on the road in good conditions, thus keeping commuters safe whilst on the move.”

To enjoy the Plentywaka Dailywaka or Travelwaka services, riders can download the Plentywaka app on Google Playstore and iOS to enjoy safe, comfortable and convenient transit at the tap of a button within 3 clicks.

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Anyone excited about making extra income can also become a hero (driver) on Plentywaka when you quickly onboard your vehicle on the platform through Autochek Africa. More so, Heroes enjoy a 90:10 sharing ratio on the riders fare, while earning as much as N250, 000 added monthly income and other benefits.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Plentywaka Partners GUO Transport to Expand Bus Travel Options

Nigeria’s leading transportation technology company, Plentywaka, and GUO Transport Services Limited, one of Nigeria’s largest transportation companies, with specialization in the interstate traveling industry, have today announced a partnership to further simplify the bus booking travel experience for Nigerians.

With this partnership, Plentywaka and GUO Transport would combine technology, and marketing, to bring transport into one simple product, the Plentywaka mobile app.

Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder, and CEO of Plentywaka
Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder, and CEO of Plentywaka

GUO Transport Services Limited is a division of G. U. Okeke & Sons Ltd was founded in 1980 and has become a household name in the transportation industry and one of the largest providers of intercity and interstate transportation, serving more than 200 destinations across Nigeria and West Africa with a modern, environmentally-friendly fleet.

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The company has become an icon in the transportation industry, providing safe, enjoyable and affordable travel to millions of passengers annually.

Plentywaka has in the last 20 months, completed over 350,000 rides and recently launched its interstate travel service called travelwaka, which provides affordable tickets from major bus travel companies such as GUO Transport Services Limited and other transport companies.

Plentywaka creates ease of ticket purchase for travel commuters across the country and it’s travelwaka service offers commuters the luxury of booking bus trips directly on the Plentywaka mobile app, while also giving its users comparison options from a wide range of travel companies in a single search.

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This enables users the opportunity to plan their entire journey without having to leave the comfort of their homes or stand in long queues.

In light of this partnership, GUO Transport Services Limited and Plentywaka will be providing millions of bus commuters access to explore different states across Nigeria through the Plentywaka app.

GUO Transport Services Limited will onboard over 600 vehicles to boost Plentywaka’s fleet size to 820+ vehicles.

This will also mean major routes like Lagos – Abuja and 200 more destinations will now be opened up on the Plentywaka App for customers to book them at affordable rates.

Speaking on the partnership, Onyeka Akumah, Co-Founder, and CEO of Plentywaka said:

“The partnership with GUO Transport Services Limited is great for our users especially because we know a lot of them have been looking for routes that GUO operates on.

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We are very excited to have developed the technology behind an easy-to-use mobile app that will make the travel experience seamless for Nigerians.”

Speaking on the partnership, Kene Okeke who is the Director of Operations for GUO Transport Services Limited, had this to say:

“We are excited about this partnership with PlentyWaka because their values and offerings align closely with ours. We can now move more people from across Nigeria conveniently and without hassle. We believe that every single traveler deserves easy and comfortable rides to and from their destinations.

Considering how much PlentyWaka has contributed to this, we are glad to get on board with them.”

Starting from today, commuters can now use the Plentywaka mobile app to either book their daily rides using the bus service or book and buy bus travel tickets from the comfort of their homes, cutting off long queues and bag rustling. Even more, the long weekend is here and you can book GUO bus tickets to states within Nigeria and enjoy a 5-10% discount.

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Plentywaka will continue to sign leading bus operators in Nigeria as we aim to become the largest aggregator of bus operators in the country providing a better way to manage and monitor their bookings and customers.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigerian Bus-hailing Startup Plentywaka Joins Innoson Vehicle To Explore Nigeria’s South East

PlentyWaka

Nigerian bus-hailing startup Plentywaka is joining local car-making company, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing— which had earlier last month announced that it was piloting a digital car-hailing service in the south eastern city of Enugu — to explore Nigeria’s other cities, apart from commercial hub Lagos and capital city Abuja. The partnership will see both exploring Nigeria’s south east and the adjoining state of Delta. 

Plenty waka Co-founder,  Onyeka Akumah
Plenty waka Co-founder, Onyeka Akumah

“It’s finally here guys!!We weren’t mincing words when we said “Something Big” was coming. Plentywaka partners with Innoson vehicle manufacturing(IVM) Nigeria’s first indigenous automobile manufacturer, to launch in the south east, starting with Delta state,” the company announced on its Twitter Page. 

Why This Matters And How It Would Configure Nigeria’s Tech Startup Landscape

Before now, Lagos is synonymous with Nigeria whenever Nigeria’s tech startup ecosystem and the investments that come to it are mentioned. One of the reasons for this is the population density of the city, which is home to more than 20 million people. The city also holds about 15.2% of the country’s entire internet population (14,192,283 subscribers).

However, recent events, such as ban on bike-hailing startups who, backed by the state government, have invested heavily in the city; and introduction of new taxes for ride-hailing companies operating in the state, are building pent-up emotions among current industry players and may likely change the dynamics a few years from now. A glimpse into this future is already playing out with disgruntled startups locating away from the city.

Lagos’ neighboring state Ogun, with more than 5 million (6.3%) active internet subscribers as at Q3 2017 is the second state with the highest rate of internet penetration in Nigeria, and a strong contender after Lagos. This is followed by Oyo, FCT, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Edo, Delta, and Niger states, all 10 states accounting for more than 54.9% of the internet subscriber base in the country.

In the entire south east where IVM and Plentywaka would be piloting their joint ride-hailing service — made of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states — there are close to 15 million active internet subscribers, as at Q3 2019.

The figures are even more interesting when a combination of adjoining states, where the highest economic activities occur, is made. For instance, the south eastern state of Anambra which forms an urban conurbation with Delta, alone, has more than 5 million active internet users. The state of Delta, on its own, has more than 4 million internet subscribers. Therefore, this presents a big opportunity for tech startups, such as IVM and Plentwaka, looking to scale their models. Most interesting also is when another neighbouring state such as Abia, with over 3 million internet subscribers, is added to the combination.

One major factor that may most likely function to retain a good number of tech startups in Lagos is the fact that, apart from an internet user base of more than 17 million people, at a GDP per capita of more than $7000, Lagos houses most of Nigeria’s easily disposable incomes. This factor becomes more compelling when the state is compared with other regions, such as the south-east, for example, where IVM wants to launch the pilot phase of its ride-hailing service. Collectively, the region has an average GDP per capita of around $1300. This may not be entirely a disincentive to scaling, given that there are other countries with lower economic indexes but relatively buoyant startup ecosystems. For instance, Uganda’s capital city Kampala has an estimated GDP per capita of around $2000, and still houses some of the continent’s leading tech startups, like the recently acquired Beyonic; Safeboda etc.

Therefore, scaling to Nigeria’s other states is highly practicable, provided that the uncertainty of government policies, infrastructural deficit, security and scattered population density of those states (resulting in increase in cost-per-customer acquisition and which could translate to a hard time attaining profitability), are well taken care of.

Even these factors are not absent from current challenges plaguing the Lagos startup ecosystem. Apart from disruptive policy alterations, the state is still groaning under the heavy weight of traffic jams. A survey report by Planet Projects showed that, at least, 3 out of every 10 years spent in Lagos is lost to traffic — meaning that residents of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, spend an average of 7 hours 20 minutes in traffic every day.

This is not getting any better any time soon as more and more vehicles — there are currently more than 5 million cars in Lagos, out of over 11 million vehicles in Nigeria — continue to line bumper-to-bumper across roads in the city.

One thing the latest partnership would definitely achieve is to test the waters, and normalise tech trends outside Lagos and Abuja. This could most possibly trigger innovations and investments in tech startups beyond both cities, and correspondingly configure the tech startup landscape in Nigeria.

Innoson Vehicle and Plentywaka have added themselves on Africa’s digital ride-hailing map. Innoson Vehicle ‘s IVM Connect will be available from October, 2020. Source: TechCabal.

Plentywaka Innoson South East Plentywaka Innoson South East Plentywaka Innoson South East

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. Following its success in the Nigerian largest commercial city of Lagos, the startup has since launched its Abuja routes, which were available for a one-week free commute for prospective users. The routes include Nyanya — Berger; Berger — Nyanya; Kubwa — Area 1; Area 1 — Kubwa; Lugbe — Area 1; Area 1 — Lugbe.

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 and has raised over $100 million in VC money which makes it one of the best-funded startups in Africa and the best-funded startup in this category. Other notable regional players include Kenya-based bus services QuickBus and Little.

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