Treepz closes $2.8m seed, acquires Uganda mobility startup, Ugabus

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According to Treepz, Ugabus currently has 70% of all the country’s bus operators on its platform, which includes around 50,000 customers that use the service to travel between cities in Uganda.
Treepz

Mobility startup Treepz has announced that it has closed its seed funding round at $2.8m after 3 months. The first stretch of the round saw the company raise $1.2m. It announced today that it has raised an additional $1.6 million USD in seed funding with new investors coming on board.

The extension seed round saw participation from Japan-based Uncovered Fund, Dubai-based Blanford Capital and Jonomi Capital and Egypt-based Jedar Capital, addition to the seed funding, Treepz also recently received funds from Google’s African Investment Fund, which the startup will use to aggressively expand its on-demand ride-sharing and intercity bus ticketing services in Africa.

Speaking on the investment, Takuma Terakubo, CEO and general partner of Uncovered Fund mentioned the importance of Treepz operations to African urbanization.

“Treepz is building the most important mobility infrastructure in Africa’s megacities. The development of public transportation is essential in African countries where urbanization is advancing.”

Takuma Terakubo, CEO and general partner of Uncovered Fund

Treepz acquires Uganda’s Ugabus

Treepz has also announced that it has fully acquired Ugabus, a Ugandan bus company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but Onyeka Akumah, CEO and co-founder of Treepz, said that the acquisition was funded with its latest investment.

Hire Bus for Your Employees - Corporate Treepz

The acquisition is part of Treepz expansion plans and its first foray into East Africa, after acquiring Stabus in Ghana.

According to Treepz, Ugabus currently has 70% of all the country’s bus operators on its platform, which includes around 50,000 customers that use the service to travel between cities in Uganda.

Like the name change that Stabus got its acquisition, Ugabus will also be renamed Treepz Uganda. The name change will take effect on December 1, this year. According to the CEO, the acquisition will enable the startup to advance into other East African countries.

“We’ll be able to service most of the major cities in Uganda, but the good thing about East Africa is they have very seamless borders between the countries, so it’s easy to move from Uganda to Rwanda, Uganda to Tanzania, Tanzania to Burundi, and so forth,”

Future expansion plans

Akumah also added that Treepz’ expansion plans are in full swing. East African countries like Tanzania and Burundi would soon have access to its services, same with Togo and Benin after the acquisition of Stabus.

“The plan is to extend into Tanzania and Burundi first. Those are places we will pay attention to next year. We are also really interested in Ethiopia. So the same thing we were doing with Ghana, across Ghana to Togo and Benin from Nigeria for the West African region. So next year, we will consolidate on our positions on East Africa and West Africa and start collapsing into on in Sub Saharan Africa.”


CEO and Co-founder of Treepz, Onyeka Akumah

The startup also introduced its all-in-one app that allows passengers to search, compare and book rides within cities and from one city to the other, conveniently from the comfort of their homes. The company believes that the indigenous intercity-focused technology of its new acquisition, Ugabus, complements its new focus to provide on-demand public transportation across Africa.

Treepz

With an existing infrastructure in mobile money, Ugabus provides a future possibility for the mobility startup to foray into that space.


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