South Africa’s WhereIsMyTransport Raises $14.5m to expand its transport data services and grow its users

South Africa’s WhereIsMyTransport has just announced a raise of $14.5 million. This amount has been closed in a round that was co-led by Naspers Foundry and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund.

The startup was founded in 2015 by Chris King, Dave New and Devin de Vries. It provides public transport data for emerging megacities in regions including Africa and Latin America. The company collects all of these data with the aim of making it easier for people to plan their journey and move from one place to another in as little time as possible.

Since it started operation till date, it has raised funds from 6 funding rounds. Its largest round so far is the recently concluded $14.5 million while the others amount to $13.3 million according to data from Crunchbase.

The contribution from Naspers Foundry made up about 20.6% of the entire sum. The South African venture investment vehicle invested $3 million in WhereIsMyTransport.

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Commenting on the investment, CEO, Kevin de Vries said, “WhereIsMyTransport started in South Africa, focused on becoming a central source of accurate and reliable public transport data for high-growth markets. We’re thrilled to welcome Naspers as an investor as our journey continues in megacities across the majority world.”

The other participants in the round include Cathay AfricInvest and Japan’s SBI Investment. With the new raise, WhereIsMyTransport will continue on its expansion into other emerging markets and gain more users beyond the 100,000 that it presently has. These 100,000 users make more than 750,000 real-time network alerts available to the mobility tech startup for use.

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Some of this data is also licensed to governments, non-governmental organizations, software developers and others to analyse and draw insights from. Its client base currently includes Google, Transport for Cape Town and the World Bank.

Both Naspers and WhereIsMyTransport are South African establishments. The VC’s CEO, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, says that the investment is a testament to the organisation’s belief in South African companies.

He said, “Our investment in WhereIsMyTransport is a testimony of our belief that great innovation and tech talent is found in South Africa, and with the right backing and support, these businesses can provide solutions to local challenges that can improve the lives of ordinary people in South Africa and abroad.”