{"id":24755,"date":"2021-06-08T05:55:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T05:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/naspers-co-leads-14-5m-extension-round-in-mobility-startup-whereismytransport.html"},"modified":"2021-06-08T05:55:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T05:55:42","slug":"naspers-co-leads-14-5m-extension-round-in-mobility-startup-whereismytransport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/naspers-co-leads-14-5m-extension-round-in-mobility-startup-whereismytransport.html","title":{"rendered":"Naspers co-leads $14.5M extension round in mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people in emerging markets depend on informal public transport to move across cities<\/span>. <\/span>But while there are ride-hailing and bus-hailing applications in some of these cities, there\u2019s a dire need for journey-planning apps to improve mobility for users and reduce the time they spend commuting<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

South African-founded startup WhereIsMyTransport<\/a> is one such company filling that gap for now. Today, i<\/span>t is announcing a $14.5 million Series A extension to continue its expansion across emerging markets; the company already has a presence in South Africa and Mexico<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naspers, via its investment arm, Naspers Foundry, co-led the investment with Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund<\/span>. According to Naspers, the size of its check was $3 million. Japan\u2019s SBI Investment also participated in the round.<\/span><\/p>\n

The extension round is coming a year after WhereIsMyTransport received a $7.5 million Series A investment<\/a> from VC firms and strategic investment from Google, Nedbank and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Google, Toyota Tsusho invest in WhereIsMyTransport to map transport in emerging cities<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Devin de Vries, Chris King and Dave New started the company in 2015. As a mobility startup, WhereIsMyTransport maps formal and informal public transport networks. <\/span>The company then uses data gotten to improve the public transport experience, making commuting safe and accessible<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition<\/span> to this, WhereIsMyTransport licenses some of this data to governments, DFIs, NGOs, operators, and third-party developers<\/span>. <\/span>It claims this <\/span>is done<\/span> for <\/span>research, analytics, insights and consumer and enterprise solutions purposes.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhereIsMyTransport started in South Africa, focused on becoming a central source of accurate and reliable public transport data for high-growth markets<\/span>. <\/span>We\u2019re thrilled to welcome Naspers as an investor as our journey continues in megacities across the majority world,\u201d said CEO Devin de Vries in a statement<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year when we covered the company, it had mapped 34 cities in Africa while actively mapping some in India, Southeast Asia and Latin America<\/span>. Since then, it expanded into Mexico City last November and has completed multiple data production projects in the city alongside Lima, Bangkok, Gauteng and Dhaka<\/span>. Right now, the company has worked in 41 cities across 28 countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WhereIsMyTransport also launched its first consumer product Rumbo, which provides network information from all modes of public transport in Mexico with <\/span>more than 100,000 users delivering over 750,000 real-time network alerts. The company says there are <\/span>plans to launch Rumbo in Lima, Peru later this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Devin de Vries (CEO WhereIsMyTransport). Image Credits:<\/strong> WhereIsMyTransport<\/p>\n

For co-lead investor Naspers Foundry, this is the firm\u2019s first investment in mobility. <\/span>So far, it has funded four other South African startups \u2014 Aerobotics, SweepSouth, Food Supply Network and The Student Hub \u2014 with a focus on edtech, food and cleaning sectors<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t pass on the opportunity to back an extraordinary South African founder who has built his business here in Cape Town to a global market leader in mapping formal and informal transportation with a strong focus on emerging markets,\u201d head of Naspers Foundry Fabian Whate told TechCrunch<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also added that there is an overlap between mobility and the food and e-commerce businesses that seem to be the main focus from a Naspers perspective<\/span>. <\/span>\u201cThe global food and e-commerce businesses, often operating in emerging markets, are quite reliant on mobility solutions<\/span>. <\/span>So there\u2019s a great overlap between what the Naspers Group does and the vision for WhereIsMyTransport<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In South Africa, WhereIsMyTransport\u2019s clients include Johannesburg commuter rail system Gautrain and Transport for Cape Town<\/span>. <\/span>On the other hand<\/span>, its international client base includes Google, the World Bank and WSP, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa CEO of Naspers Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa said: \u201cMobility remains an obstacle for billions of people in high-growth markets across the world<\/span>. <\/span>Our investment in WhereIsMyTransport is a testimony of our belief that great innovation and tech talent <\/span>is found<\/span> 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<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Who will own the future of transportation?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunchIt\/~3\/K3AYwK9G0DY\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people in emerging markets depend on informal public transport to move across cities. But while there are ride-hailing and bus-hailing applications in some of these cities, there\u2019s a dire <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-24755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enterprise-software","tag-enterprise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t