Cape Town-founded mobility tech startup WhereIsMyTransport has secured a total of $14.5-million during a Series A extension round to continue its expansion. This is in addition to the R42-million ($3.09-million) in funding it received from South African media mega power Naspers.
The new funding was raised from investors including Google and Toyota.
This investment is part of a larger R201-million funding round led by Naspers Foundry, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and SBI Investment writes VentureBurn.
“In emerging-market megacities, hundreds of millions of people use public transport to get where they need to go. Before WhereIsMyTransport, there was no central source of data for these networks, despite their size, scale, and importance,” reads a blurb on the startup’s official website.
“WhereIsMyTransport helps people understand mobility in emerging-market megacities. We’re trusted by industry leaders like Google, the World Bank, and WSP.”
Founded in Cape Town in 2015, the tech startup focusing on mobility creates data maps for formal and informal public transport networks in cities and uses this data and tech to improve the public transport experiences of commuters.
WhereIsMyTransport hopes to make public commutes more reliable, predictable, safe, inclusive and more accessible to individuals living in megacities in emerging economies in Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America.
The startup will license its gathered mobility datasets to government, financial institutions, NGOs, operators and other solutions developers to be used towards research and analytics.
WhereIsMyTransport Eyes the World
In South Africa, WhereIsMyTransport counts the Gautrain as one of its clientele. International clients feature companies such as Google, the World Bank and many others.
“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,” says Devin de Vries, CEO and co-founder of WhereIsMyTransport, about the now-secured funding.
“Mobility remains an obstacle for billions of people in high-growth markets across the world,” says Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO of Naspers, commenting on the importance of supporting innovations that address mobility issues.
“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,” they conclude.
