Farewell to WhereIsMyTransport: South African Startup Closes After Seven Years

In a heartfelt LinkedIn post, Devin de Vries, the CEO and founder of South African mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport, announced the company’s cessation of operations. The news marks the end of a remarkable journey aimed at enabling freedom of movement in emerging markets, and it comes after the startup was unable to secure the necessary funding to continue its operations.

A Long, Hard Journey

WhereIsMyTransport began as a humble venture, with Devin de Vries and a small team operating out of a garage, surrounded by friends who believed in their vision. From these modest beginnings, the company’s trajectory was nothing short of extraordinary. Eight years ago, they secured their first round of funding, and in the intervening years, they grew into a robust organization with a presence in 22 countries and a team of 200 employees, supported by thousands of gig-mappers. Their efforts culminated in providing transit data for over 50 cities across four continents, benefiting millions of consumers and tens of millions of transit users.

read also South Africa’s Munch Software Lands Famous Brands’ Investment

The startup’s mission was clear: to empower people everywhere to get where they want to go. They specialized in mapping both formal and informal public transport networks, using this data and technology to enhance public transportation, making it more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive, and accessible for the residents of densely populated megacities in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries
Devin de Vries was the CEO of WhereIsMyTransport. Credits: WhereIsMyTransport

A Grateful Farewell

In his LinkedIn post, Devin de Vries expressed his gratitude to the investors who had supported WhereIsMyTransport along the way. He recognized that without their backing, their groundbreaking work would not have been possible. He also extended his thanks to the dedicated team that passionately and committedly worked towards the mission of empowering people to reach their desired destinations.

The South African startup’s most recent high-profile investment came in the form of a US$7.5 million funding round, with notable participants including Google, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and others. This investment aimed to further the company’s global expansion efforts and enhance its data collection capabilities to translate complex data into actionable information for commuters.

A Change of Course

Devin de Vries reflected on how WhereIsMyTransport had to pivot and evolve over the years to achieve its vision. He noted that they initially attempted to create solutions for individual groups within the transportation ecosystem but found that these efforts fell short of addressing the core problem they sought to solve: making transport information accessible to the right people at the right time and place. This realization led them to embark on a much grander endeavor — a platform that could unite the entire transport ecosystem.

read also Mozambican Logistics Startup Appload Secures Investment for Logistics Revolution

Despite the challenges they faced and the need to leave their humble garage headquarters, WhereIsMyTransport’s journey continued with the ambition to become the definitive source for information on the public transport networks of emerging markets. Their products served as tools for cities, operators, and passengers to coordinate, integrate, and access vital data, ultimately making public transport more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive, and accessible.

A Final Note

With this shutdown, WhereIsMyTransport joins a growing list of African startups that have shut down in recent time -54gene, Dash, Sendy, among others. While their journey has come to an end, it leaves a legacy of dedication to improving public transportation for millions in emerging markets. It’s a testament to the persistence and vision of entrepreneurs like Devin de Vries, who are willing to start over and over again to make a meaningful impact on the ecosystem.

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

Why Investors Backed South African Mobility Startup, WhereIsMyTransport, In A Rare $14.5m Series A

It has been a roller-coaster fundraising ride for South African mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport. The startup had secured two funding rounds back in 2017, a further US$1.85 million in 2019 and another $7.5m just last year. And yet, it has gone ahead to secure a new R200m ($14.5m) investment, in a round led by one of Africa’s biggest startup investors, Naspers Foundry. 

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries
WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries

In the round, Naspers Foundry invested R42m ($3m), while the remainder of the investment came from other investors such as Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and SBI Investment, with additional funds from Capria Ventures, Wuri Ventures, Mission Gate, B&Y, and KDDI Open Innovation Fund managed by Global Brain.

Read also:Why Ride-hailing Is Thriving In Egypt, And Why UK’s UVA Just Joined The Race

“WhereIsMyTransport started in South Africa, focused on becoming a central source of accurate and reliable public transport data for high-growth markets. We’re thrilled to welcome Naspers as an investor as our journey continues in megacities across the majority world,” CEO Devin de Vries said in a statement.

Why The Investors Invested

Investors seem to have been lured in by WhereIsMyTransport’s growing track records. Since the company was formed 5 years ago, it has expanded to India, Southeast Asia and Latin America, outside of its native South Africa. 

The startup which says it cherishes presence in the Majority World (an alternative word for developing countries), already has heavyweight clientele such as Google which has integrated its data on Mexico City’s informal public transport lines, as well as the World Bank which has requested data from it on the public transport networks in seven African cities. 

Read also:Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize Expands Ecosystem of Partners

Again, the launch of the startup’s latest app, Rumbo, which helps people to get information from all public transport modes, alerting users to disruptions and providing alternative routes on the go, has also seen some relative success. 

In Mexico City alone, Rumbo has already reached over 100,000 users. Commuters find value in the first-ever integration of all 2,400 public transport routes in the city, not to mention the 750,000 real-time alerts the app has already shared. Rumbo launches in Lima, Peru in June 2021, and future launches are planned in other emerging-market megacities.

These track records are perhaps, why the investors have rallied around it in the latest funding round. 

For Naspers Foundry, the investment continues its trait of investing only in startups owned by South Africans. In 2019, it invested R30 million in online home cleaning services business, SweepSouth; and R100 million in May 2020, in Aerobotics, a subscription-based artificial intelligence company. In September that year, it also invested in Food Supply Network, a B2B online marketplace that integrates food ordering systems across the food services industry. It then followed it up with a $2.9m investment in The Student Hub, a South African online learning platform. Investment in WhereIsMyTransport is Naspers Foundry’s first foray into mobility; it has never invested twice in the same sector in Africa so far. 

Read also:Why Mobile Technology is Important to Rural African Communities

“Mobility remains an obstacle for billions of people in high-growth markets across the world. Our investment in WhereIsMyTransport is a testimony of our belief that great innovation and tech talent is found in South Africa, and with the right backing and support, these businesses can provide solutions to local challenges that can improve the lives of ordinary people in South Africa and abroad,” said South Africa CEO of Naspers Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa. 

So far, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund has achieved quite some comfort investing in South Africa. It recently participated in the country’s Aerobotics, an AgriTech startup developing intelligent tools to the feed the world. Unlike Naspers Foundry, Cathay has portfolio companies that look similar to WhereIsMyTransport. Such companies include Aerobotics and Paris-based ride-hailing startup Heetch. Most importantly, Cathay looks more at teams when making investments in startups, and WhereIsMyTransport’s Devin Vries, Chris King and Dave New seem to be the perfect match. 

Japan’s SBI Investment (once part of the defunct SoftBank), has equally been active on the African investment scene, investing late last year in Nigeria’s digital bank Kuda Bank. 

Other investors in this round include:

S/NInvestorCountry Of OperationsInvestment MandateAfrican startups previously invested in
1Capria VenturesSeattle, Paris, Bangalore, and NairobiPartners with and funds emerging market fund managersHas invested in UAE-based VC firm Global Ventures which has in turn invested in African startups Elmenus, Buseet, Helium Health, Paymob
2Wuri Ventures  Dakar, SenegalWuri invests in information asymmetry (data),fragmentation (platorms),  public goods (electricity, mobility) as well as team.Wuri is one of the funds backed by Capria Ventures. It has invested in Lori Systems; TastermakersAfrica; Carry1st; Tambua Health; Redbaycoffee
3Mission GateSan Francisco, USAMission Gate invests in seed and early-stage startups in the internet, mobile, innovative consumer products and medical cannabis industriesNone
4B&YJersey, Channel  Islands, British IslesHelps MENA startups become global, and international companies.None
5KDDI Open Innovation Fund managed by Global Brain.Tokyo, JapanKDDI Open Innovation Fund 3 (KOIF III) was established in April 2018 with Global Brain. The fund invests in wide range of fields based on KDDI’s expertise in business and technologies including AI, IoT, Data Marketing, Fintech, and B2B SaaS to support promising startups.None

A Look At What WhereIsMyTransport Does

Formed in 2016, WhereIsMyTransport is a big data platform for sustainable mobility in emerging markets, which connects and collects data and integrates this information on its open data platform.

Its products are used by cities to coordinate and monitor services, operators to integrate their systems, and passengers, who access the platform through apps and endpoints connected to the WhereIsMyTransport platform.

The company licenses these “mobility datasets” to governments, development finance institutions, nongovernmental organisations, operators and third-party solution developers for the purpose of research, analytics and insights, and developing consumer and enterprise solutions.

Its South African clients have included the Gautrain and Transport for Cape Town. 

mobility WhereIsMyTransport

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

South Africa’s Transport Startup WhereIsMyTransport Secures $7.5m Funding To Further Scale Business

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries

Barely a week after JUMO, the South African fintech startup secured a whopping $55 million funding, led by Goldman Sachs, South African mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport has raised a US$7.5 million funding round from investors including Google, Nedbank and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) for further global expansion.

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries
WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries

‘‘ Starting over is never easy. Especially when you’ve devoted years of your life to the work you’ve just scrapped. But that’s just what the WhereIsMyTransport team (then 14 people) resolved to do one day as we sat in the grass in front of the garage, which, as cliché as it sounds, was our home for the past five years,’’ WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries noted many years ago before the latest funding. 

Here Is The Deal

  • This round of investment was led by Liil Ventures, Google, Nedbank and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC), with previous investors Global Innovation Fund and Goodwell Investments also participating. 
  • The startup secured two funding rounds back in 2017 and a further US$1.85 million early last year. 
  • WhereIsMyTransport will use the funding to extend its global reach, scale its data collection practice, and develop new technology to translate complex data into useful information for commuters.

“We make the invisible visible, by collecting all kinds of data related to public transport and turning the data into information that can be shared with the people who need it most. In emerging markets, the mobility ecosystem is complex; informal public transport doesn’t behave like formal public transport,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Devin de Vries.

“Data and technology solutions that work well in London or San Francisco wouldn’t make anything like the same impact, if any at all, in the cities where we work. Our solutions are designed specifically to overcome these contextual challenges.”

Why The Investors Invested

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in WhereIsMyTransport’s Series A funding,” says Mr. Masato Yamanami, Automotive Division’s CEO of Toyota Tsusho Corporation.Our division’s global network, that covers 146 countries, is primarily focused on new emerging countries where people rely on informal public transport. Through strategic collaboration with WhereIsMyTransport, we will develop better and more efficient mobility services that help to resolve social challenges and contribute to the overall economic development of nations, primarily emerging nations.”

According to Janade Du Plessis, Head of Alternative Investments and Venture Capital at Nedbank:

Nedbank CIB is at the forefront of investing in disruptive technologies that are able to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives – including smart city initiatives that leverages Nedbank’s strategy of financing our infrastructure, transport and logistics clients. WhereIsMyTransport is a leading provider of sustainable transit solutions in complex urban environments. Our investment will support the company’s expansion into key African regions, and we will use our network and our influence on the continent to unlock new corporate partnerships.“ 

According to Alix Peterson Zwane, Chief Executive Officer, Global Innovation Fund: 

“Informal and often unreliable mass transit is a significant problem that disproportionately affects poor people. We are excited to continue to work with WhereIsMyTransport to make mass transportation in emerging cities more accessible and more efficient. The company has expanded to new geographies since GIF’s initial investment, and we look forward to growing our partnership, and continuing to improve lives and create opportunities for people throughout the developing world.” 

Read also: South African Fintech Startup JUMO Raises $55 mn In Latest Funding Round

A Look At What WhereIsMyTransport Does

Formed in 2016, WhereIsMyTransport is a big data platform for sustainable mobility in emerging markets, which connects and collects data and integrates this information on its open data platform.

Its products are used by cities to coordinate and monitor services, operators to integrate their systems, and passengers, who access the platform through apps and endpoints connected to the WhereIsMyTransport platform.

‘‘We’re mapping the emerging world’s public transport networks, to become the de facto source of this information; and we’re supporting communities with the data — and with the right user experience — to make formal and informal public transport more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive, and accessible,’’ CEO Devin de Vries notes. 

WhereIsMyTransport launched operations in Africa but has since expanded to India, Southeast Asia and Latin America in 2018.  

For a startup that had previously pivoted, the latest round of funding is a major feat.

‘We had to start over because our idea wasn’t about one city of millions, but many cities of billions,’’ Devin noted in a Linkedin post, far back in 2016. ‘‘An idea that started in 2008 as a university project had brought my co-founder and I to the world finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, to Silicon Valley, and then back to Cape Town. Once the dust and press had cleared, we had gone to work turning a competition entry into a company.

Over the years we dived-deep into our industry, learning from the many stakeholders that make up the transport ecosystem, and we pivoted. Each time we created a product for a single group, it failed to address the underlying problem we were trying to solve: getting transport information to the right people, when and where they needed it.

By that day in the grass, we knew the only way to truly solve that problem was to make something that all those groups could use. A platform that united the entire transport ecosystem. It would need to be much bigger and more robust than anything we had ever created. We would need a much bigger team to do it, and we’d have to leave our garage.’’

 

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.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com

South Africa’s Transport Startup WhereIsMyTransport Secures $7.5m Funding To Further Scale Business

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries

Barely a week after JUMO, the South African fintech startup secured a whopping $55 million funding, led by Goldman Sachs, South African mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport has raised a US$7.5 million funding round from investors including Google and Toyota Tsusho Corporation for further global expansion.

WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries
WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries

‘‘ Starting over is never easy. Especially when you’ve devoted years of your life to the work you’ve just scrapped. But that’s just what the WhereIsMyTransport team (then 14 people) resolved to do one day as we sat in the grass in front of the garage, which, as cliché as it sounds, was our home for the past five years,’’ WhereIsMyTransport CEO Devin de Vries noted many years ago before the latest funding. 

Here Is The Deal

  • Liil Ventures led the round, and previous investors Global Innovation Fund and Goodwell Investments also participated. Google, Nedbank and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) also took part.
  • The startup secured two funding rounds back in 2017 and a further US$1.85 million early last year, and has now raised a US$7.5 million Series A funding round.
  • WhereIsMyTransport will use the funding to extend its global reach, scale its data collection practice, and develop new technology to translate complex data into useful information for commuters.

“We make the invisible visible, by collecting all kinds of data related to public transport and turning the data into information that can be shared with the people who need it most. In emerging markets, the mobility ecosystem is complex; informal public transport doesn’t behave like formal public transport,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Devin de Vries.

“Data and technology solutions that work well in London or San Francisco wouldn’t make anything like the same impact, if any at all, in the cities where we work. Our solutions are designed specifically to overcome these contextual challenges.”

Why The Investors Invested

Masato Yamanami, CEO of Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s automotive division, said:

Our division’s global network, that covers 146 countries, is primarily focused on new emerging countries where people rely on informal public transport. Through strategic collaboration with WhereIsMyTransport, we will develop better and more efficient mobility services that help to resolve social challenges and contribute to the overall economic development of nations, primarily emerging nations.”

Read also: South African Fintech Startup JUMO Raises $55 mn In Latest Funding Round

A Look At What WhereIsMyTransport Does

Formed in 2016, WhereIsMyTransport is a big data platform for sustainable mobility in emerging markets, which connects and collects data and integrates this information on its open data platform.

Its products are used by cities to coordinate and monitor services, operators to integrate their systems, and passengers, who access the platform through apps and endpoints connected to the WhereIsMyTransport platform.

‘‘We’re mapping the emerging world’s public transport networks, to become the de facto source of this information; and we’re supporting communities with the data — and with the right user experience — to make formal and informal public transport more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive, and accessible,’’ CEO Devin de Vries notes. 

WhereIsMyTransport launched operations in Africa but has since expanded to India, Southeast Asia and Latin America. 

For a startup that had previously pivoted, the latest round of funding is a major feat.

‘We had to start over because our idea wasn’t about one city of millions, but many cities of billions,’’ Devin noted in a Linkedin post, far back in 2016. ‘‘An idea that started in 2008 as a university project had brought my co-founder and I to the world finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, to Silicon Valley, and then back to Cape Town. Once the dust and press had cleared, we had gone to work turning a competition entry into a company.

Over the years we dived-deep into our industry, learning from the many stakeholders that make up the transport ecosystem, and we pivoted. Each time we created a product for a single group, it failed to address the underlying problem we were trying to solve: getting transport information to the right people, when and where they needed it.

By that day in the grass, we knew the only way to truly solve that problem was to make something that all those groups could use. A platform that united the entire transport ecosystem. It would need to be much bigger and more robust than anything we had ever created. We would need a much bigger team to do it, and we’d have to leave our garage.’’

 

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.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com