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Nigerian Shared Mobility Startup Shuttlers Raises $1.5M, Plans Pan-African Expansion

Nigerian Shared Mobility Startup Shuttlers Raises $1.5M, Plans Pan-African Expansion

11/16/21, 8:03 AM
Money raised
$1.5 million
Round Type
seed
Shared transportation in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country by population, is a thriving business, at least when done the conventional way: offline.

Company Info

Company
Shuttlers
Additional Info
After years of bootstrapping, the company has raised $1.6 million in seed funding from several investors to blitz scale within and outside Nigeria. Instead, the company ran an unconventional online model using Slack, email and WhatsApp to communicate with its customers. According to the company, commuters pay 80% less when using its service instead of other ride-hailing services “without surges and peak-period pricing.”Some of its other features include live bus tracking, optimal routing based on traffic and digital payments, the company said. The company claims to have over 10,000 users across its mobile app and website users. More than 100 unbranded and branded buses are on its platform, ploughing over 30 routes in Lagos with over 300 bus stops. Having done this much with so little, why is the company raising a seed round now? For one, it seems the company wants to go head-to-head with VC-backed competition; its funding is coming at a time when newer entrants are gaining ground across the country, most notably from Toronto and Lagos-based Plentywaka. The Techstars-backed company is actively fueling its expansion across Nigeria and Ghana having raised more than $1.5 million in funding, money also used to acquire a similar player in Ghana. Now we are ready to take over the African market, starting with Nigeria and West African markets in the next couple of months.”The company has begun operations in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja, but Olokesusi doesn’t say which other cities within and outside Nigeria Shuttlers will expand to next. In essence, the company, in its little way, is reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that those commuters would have otherwise emitted if they used their cars daily. CEO Damilola Olokesusi founded Shuttlers in 2016 to address the issue of inefficient transportation costs in Nigeria’s most renowned urban city, Lagos. Via its ridesharing platform, Shuttlers provides companies with better mobility options for their employees. Five years in, Shuttlers is not only profitable while raising money and making expansion plans; it is also concerned about fostering its environmental impact.