Shuttlers, a Nigerian shared mobility firm that enables particular person and company passengers to take rides on a number of bus routes by way of an app, has raised $4 million in a brand new funding spherical led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), a Pan-African centered enterprise capital agency.

The spherical welcomed participation from follow-on traders, together with VestedWorld, which led the mobility startup’s $1.6 million round 18 months in the past. SheEquity, CMC 21 & Alsa, and EchoVC are the startup’s different backers on this spherical, which has seen the mobility firm safe over $5.6 million in whole enterprise backing.

Shuttlers’ enterprise primarily focuses on company journeys and commutes. In Lagos, Africa’s most populous metropolis, the common skilled who commutes to work each day or a number of instances every week — whether or not with a private automotive or danfo minibuses and okadas — meets roads riddled with intense visitors congestion and harmful carbon emissions. Since transportation isn’t a typical worker perk in Nigeria, what Shuttlers has managed to do since CEO Damilola Olokesusi launched the startup in 2016 is present accomplice corporations, in Lagos and Abuja, with a bus-sharing platform with mobility choices for his or her workers.

With Shuttlers, these workers can e-book seats on one of many buses alongside predetermined and scheduled routes. Its different options embody dwell bus monitoring, optimum routing primarily based on visitors, digital funds, and experience schedules. It has three cost plans: Corporations pay full fare for workers, corporations break up fares with workers, and particular person prospects — unaffiliated with any accomplice firm — pay fares themselves. The fares vary from N850 (~$1.96) and N1300 (~$2.60).

Shuttlers has doubled down on traction since we coated its seed spherical in November 2021. Again then, the Lagos-based startup stated it had over 100 buses plowing 30 routes throughout town. Presently, practically 260 buses undergo 300 routes throughout Lagos and Abuja each day, in keeping with co-founder and chief government Olokesusi. In the meantime, with a clientele of 80+ corporations, together with Interswitch, MainOne and Paga, the corporate sells over 9,000 tickets each day to particular person and company passengers — and recorded 3 million journeys, per its web site. The corporate claims that greater than 70,000 customers have taken a experience on its platform.

Shuttlers founders

Bus-hailing platforms don’t contribute to inner-city congestion just like the extra common shared mobility phase: ride-hailing companies. Its mannequin is such that extra individuals are inspired to take public transportation and reduce personal automotive possession. Thus, along with serving to commuters alleviate the stress of driving to work or utilizing disorganized public transport, Shuttlers is enjoying its half in reducing air pollution and congestion. The mobility upstart claims to have diminished its commuters’ carbon footprint by 85% (about 4 million kilos of carbon dioxide emission). The corporate’s environmental affect is one motive why lead investor Verod-Kepple backed it, in keeping with accomplice Ory Okolloh, who stated in a press release, “[Shuttlers’] dedication to creating affect aligns with our imaginative and prescient for investing in entrepreneurs who’re fixing important challenges and firms who’ve a optimistic affect on society.”

Shuttlers’ seed spherical, which the corporate secured after bootstrapping for 4 years and processing over $1 million in transactions, afforded it room to enhance its tech, Olokesusi advised TechCrunch. Now this extra financing secured by the 55-man staff will assist construct infrastructure to energy its mass transit enterprise, allow worker transportation for extra corporates and improve market share in an area that features Techstars-backed Treepz because it expands to different cities inside Nigeria. It’ll additionally ramp up hiring in its gross sales, advertising and buyer help departments, Olokesusi added.

“Earlier than our first funding, after we didn’t do advertising and PR, I believe we had the best market share in bus hailing and sharing house. However now, there’s little doubt that we’re miles aside from the competitors, when it comes to the variety of prospects, the know-how and routes. We have now constructed an infrastructure that enables us to broaden into totally different geographies inside and out of doors Nigeria and helps a number of stakeholders, from companions and drivers to marshals and administrative our bodies. Our primary focus is to take over the bus-sharing house and be this enormous startup that, you understand, may be very worthwhile,” Olokesusi stated about Shuttlers’ place in Nigeria’s bus-hailing market, including that the startup intends to go dwell in 5 different cities throughout the nation by subsequent 12 months.