Senegalese logistics startup Yobante Express secures US$1.2mn bridge funding round
Yobante Express, a Senegalese delivery startup that connects local couriers with local commerce to optimize domestic, cross-border, and last-mile delivery, has secured US$1.2mn bridge funding round to continue its rapid expansion.
The funding came from Grenfell Holdings, Launch Africa Ventures, R-Ventures, Libertad via its investment branch Aguila Investments and a pool of local and high international angel investors. It will be used to help the startup reach critical mass in South Africa and Nigeria.
Read also: Pan-African company Baobab+ secures US$11.7mn for operational expansion
Last year, the firm, which participated in the Startupbootcamp AfriTech accelerator program in Cape Town in 2019, was operating in five African markets outside of South Africa, including Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Ghana.
According to the Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Oumar Basse the startup had an annual run rate of US$8mn in revenues and 1.2 million parcels carried.
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“We plan to carry 2 million parcels in 2021,” he said. “This bridge round is to fund rollout in South Africa and Nigeria, including building operations, developing the network of relay points and carriers, and acquiring customers.”
“Within six months, we should be able to connect Lagos to Dakar using Yobante for the entire journey. Within three years, we should be able to send a parcel from Cape Town to Dakar”.
What You Need To Know About Yobante Express
Launched in November 2018, Yobante Express is a web and mobile platform that leverages gig economy, independent, and casual couriers inside a resilient mesh network of relay points to deliver items twice as fast and 40% more economically than existing options.
Yobante Express hopes to raise a Series A round later this year to expand into nations around all of its existing locations.
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