Shuttlers, a Nigerian shared mobility company that allows individual and corporate passengers to ride multiple bus routes via an app, is backed by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), a pan-African focused venture. Raised $4 million in a new funding round led by capital company.
The round welcomed participation from subsequent investors, including VestedWorld, which led the mobility startup’s $1.6 million round 18 months ago. SheEquity, CMC 21 & Alsa, and EchoVC are the startup’s other backers in this round, with the mobility company securing more than $5.6 million in total venture backing.
Shuttlers’ business is primarily focused on corporate travel and commuting. In Lagos, Africa’s most populous city, the average professional who commutes daily or several times a week, whether by private car, Danfo minibus or Okada, faces heavy traffic congestion and dangerous carbon emissions. You will come across a full road. Transportation is not a common employee prerogative in Nigeria, so what Shuttles has managed to do since his CEO Damilola Orokessi launched the startup in 2016 is to partner with companies in Lagos and Abuja. to provide a bus-sharing platform with mobility options for employees.
With Shuttlers, these employees can reserve seats on a single bus along a pre-determined scheduled route. Other features include live bus tracking, optimal routing based on traffic conditions, digital payments, and ride schedules. There are 3 payment plans. The company pays the employee in full, the company splits the fare with the employee, or the individual customer (unrelated to the partner company) pays for themselves. Fares are from N850 (~$1.96) to N1300 (~$2.60) he.
The Shuttlers have doubled their traction since covering the seed round in November 2021. At the time, the Lagos-based startup said it had over 100 buses operating 30 routes around the city. According to co-founder and CEO Olokesusi, there are currently nearly 260 buses running daily on his 300 routes across Lagos and Abuja. Meanwhile, he has more than 80 corporate customers, including Interswitch, MainOne and Paga, and the company sells over 9,000 tickets to individual and corporate passengers every day, and according to its website, he has sold 3 million tickets. I am recording my trip. The company claims more than 70,000 users have used its platform.
Founder of Shuttles
Bus-hailing platforms do not contribute to urban congestion like ride-hailing services, the more popular shared mobility segment. The model is such that more people are encouraged to use public transport and less own cars. In addition to helping reduce the stress of using, Shuttlers play a role in reducing pollution and congestion. The mobility start-up claims he has reduced the carbon footprint of commuters by 85% (about £4 million of carbon footprint). The company’s environmental impact is one of the reasons he backed the company, his Verod-Kepple, a major investor.[Shuttlers’] Our commitment to creating impact aligns with our vision to invest in entrepreneurs who solve important problems and companies that have a positive impact on society. ”
Shuttlers secured its seed round after four years of bootstrapping and processing more than $1 million in deals, leaving room to improve its technology, Olokesusi told TechCrunch. The additional funding, now secured by a team of 55 people, will help build infrastructure to power mass transit operations, enable employee transportation for more companies, and enable Techstars-backed Treepz to expand within Nigeria. It will help you grow your market share as you expand to other cities in the world. It will also ramp up recruitment in sales, marketing and customer support departments, Olokesusi added.
“Before the first round of funding, when we weren’t doing marketing and PR, I think we had the best market share in bus dispatching and space sharing. We have built an infrastructure that allows us to expand to different regions inside and outside Nigeria, and we have multiple partners, from partners and drivers to marshals and government agencies. We support our stakeholders. Our main focus is to take over the bus-sharing space and become this huge, highly profitable start-up in other cities across the country by next year.
