Yobante Express has now raised a US$1.2 million bridge round, ahead of a Series A it will open at the end of the year. The funding comes 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.
Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Oumar Basse told Disrupt Africa the startup had an annual run rate of US$8 million in revenues and 1.2 million parcels carried.
“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.”
The Series A round Yobante Express plans to raise later this year will be used to scale into countries surrounding all its existing locations.
“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,” Basse
said.
La #startup sénégalaise @yobanteYES réalise une levée de fonds de 1,2 million de dollars https://t.co/XJ6KfaEJUU #kebetu #senegal #Afrique #livraison
— Basile Niane ⚡️ (@basileniane) September 28, 2021
