Afrigather Shuttlers, a Nigerian mobility firm, has raised a $4 million Sequence A fairness spherical after elevating a $1.6 million seed round. Shuttlers makes use of its tech-enabled platform to supply shared bus rides to company passengers and people on scheduled bus routes. The spherical was led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures and noticed participation from follow-on buyers SheEquity, CMC 21 & Alsa, EchoVC, and VestedWorld—which led its seed spherical.
The Lagos-based startup is especially centered on company prospects. With a B2B2C mannequin, Shuttlers presents corporations the chance to pay the bus fares for his or her staff in full or cut up fares with them. Shuttlers additionally presents a B2C mannequin the place particular person prospects will pay fares. The fares vary from N850 ($1.96) to N1300 ($2.60). The startup additionally presents its customers the power to trace bus journeys, select the very best route based mostly on site visitors, make digital funds, and look at trip schedules.
The site visitors state of affairs in Lagos is among the many worst on this planet. In accordance with a 2018 report, Lagosians spend a mean of 30 hours a week in site visitors, one of many highest figures on this planet. Town has a inhabitants of about 24 million folks, with over 5 million automobiles and 200,000 industrial autos on the roads. This makes Lagos’s day by day common of 227 autos per each kilometre of street 20 occasions greater than the nationwide common.
The impact of site visitors on the common Lagosian can’t be overstated. Final yr, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Lagos because the second-worst city on this planet to dwell in. Shuttlers’ answer, which inspires public transportation, goals to mitigate the site visitors state of affairs in Lagos. Public transportation may also cut back environmental air pollution, and Shuttlers claims to have decreased its commuters’ carbon footprint by 85%.
In accordance with its web site, Shuttlers has 77 routes inside Lagos and has partnered with over 70 enterprise purchasers, like Foremost One, Interswitch, and Paga, and over 270 buses. The startup additionally claims to have accomplished over 3 million journeys and moved over 10,000 workers.
Shuttlers will use their new funding to increase outdoors Lagos, in keeping with Damilola Olokesusi, the CEO and co-founder of Shuttlers. “This extra funding will enable us to construct the infrastructure we have to energy mass transit and increase our attain to extra communities in Nigeria. We imagine that shared mobility can have a transformative affect on our society, and we’re dedicated to driving that change.”
