Maritime Startup, MVXchange Raises $100k Pre-seed Fund in a Round Led by Oui Capital

There’s an increasing attention on Nigerian transportation startups as the race to create an efficient system heats up. Now another transport startup, MVXchange has announced its presence with a new round of funding.

A maritime logistics startup, MVXchange, has just raised $100,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Oui Capital. Other investors who participated in the funding round include Neon Ventures, Zircon Marine, and a few other angel investors.

But what is MVXchange really?

Motor Vessel Xchange (MVX) is a startup operating in the maritime sector. It connects vessel charterers directly to offshore support vessels (OSV’s) operating on the coast of West Africa.

The company is effectively a business-to-business solution that aims to improve the convenience and efficiency of chartering vessels. By optimising the processes, MVXchange aims to reduce manpower hours, save stress and improve overall expected performance of shipping operations.

The startup aims to reduce the time it takes to hire vessels from weeks to minutes.

“We are building the future of OSV chartering in Africa by reducing inefficiencies and increasing capacity and utilisation of vessels across African waters,” MVXchange CEO, Tony Membere said. “We’re happy to be working with our early investors.”

This is the first funding round so far for the startup. As a pre-seed round, the funds will play a key role in developing the MVXchange’s platform, regulatory fees and perhaps sales and marketing tactics.

And investors are certainly betting on it to succeed. Speaking after closing the deal, a Managing Partner at Oui Capital calls MVXchange a “great company”.

“They have a first-mover advantage in an industry that currently has a lot of inefficiencies in the procurement process,” he said.

Yet the interest in MVXchange comes at a time when there’s serious competition in the transportation industry. While powerhouses like Uber and Taxify dominate the ride hailing market, other transport verticals are effectively still heavily competed for.

While Gokada and Max are early players in the bike sharing market, Opera has debuted a new competition into the market. Called ORide, the new service is backed by Opera’s $40 million funds for innovation in Nigeria.

So going forward, if both funding and competition would allow, we could see better transport services in Nigeria.