World’s first mobility fintech Moove raises $105m in Series A2 round to scale its revenue-based financing model globally
Moove, the world’s first mobility fintech, which provides revenue-based financing to mobility entrepreneurs across Africa, has raised $105 million in an oversubscribed Series A2 round consisting of equity and debt. The round is led by existing investors, Speedinvest, Left Lane Capital and thelatest.ventures, with participation from new investors including AfricInvest, MUFG Innovation Partners, Latitude and Kreos Capital.
Launched in 2020 by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove is democratizing vehicle ownership across Africa by providing mobility entrepreneurs access to revenue-based financing in markets with low access to credit. Using its alternative credit scoring technology, Moove provides vehicle financing to its customers to purchase brand new vehicles using a percentage of their weekly revenue.
Having experienced overwhelming demand and exponential growth across Africa, Moove-financed vehicles have completed over 3 million rides covering more than 25 million kilometers. Now, Moove is expanding its model globally to meet the needs of mobility entrepreneurs in other emerging markets. With this new $105m Series A2 round, which brings the total raised by the mobility fintech pioneer to $174.5m, Moove will rapidly scale its revenue-based vehicle financing model to seven new markets across Asia, MENA, and Europe over the next six months.
Using data to democratize vehicle ownership across emerging markets
Moove is part of a new generation of Nigerian-born startups that are upending financial services across Africa. After raising $23 million in an oversubscribed Series A round in August 2021, Moove is now leading the charge in the “mobility fintech” sector, a white space where Moove has emerged as the leader across Africa, helping to solve the continent’s acute problem of limited access to vehicle financing for millions of Africans.
Poor credit penetration across Africa has restricted the ability of over 1 billion Africans to buy new vehicles. Fewer than 5% of all vehicles in Africa are purchased with financing compared to 92% in Europe and vehicle ownership is less than 44 cars per 1,000 people, compared to 640 per 1,000 in Europe and 816 in the US. Similarly in Asia and the MENA region, with a combined population of more than 5 billion people, vehicle ownership stands at just 136 per 1,000 and 261 per 1,000, respectively.
Over the next six months, Moove will scale its revenue-based vehicle financing model to mobility entrepreneurs across Asia, MENA, and Europe, and plans to expand its partnerships and vehicle classes to include cars, trucks, bikes, three-wheelers, and buses.
Driving impact across transport and finance
Moove’s model has proven transformative in other ways. Its commitment to ensuring that at least 60% of the vehicles it finances are electric or hybrid in line with targets set at COP26 means the company is replacing the old-polluting vehicles that are exported from the rest of the world to the continent with new fuel-efficient vehicles. This commitment to tackling the climate crisis saw Moove recently awarded the IFC’s Annual Corporate Award as one of the top 20 most impactful and transformational projects, applying an innovative and scalable solution towards a global problem.
Moove is driving forward new areas of emerging economies with a platform that is disrupting traditional financial services and providing the means to empower a new generation of mobility entrepreneurs. The mobility space in emerging markets is often highly fragmented and informal, Moove is helping to formalise how millions of people can participate in this economy to earn a living and own their vehicle. Moove has a commitment to ensuring that at least 50% of its customers are women, its product design enables more women to access vehicle financing and flexible employment.
Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO at Moove, said: “Less than two years ago we discovered this whitespace of mobility fintech and launched Moove. Having now surpassed over 3 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles across Africa, launched in six new cities and connected thousands of ambitious mobility entrepreneurs to ride-hailing, e-logistics and instant delivery marketplaces, we’re now leading this growing category within fintech. But there are still millions of budding mobility entrepreneurs in emerging markets across the world who have limited or no access to vehicle financing and marketplaces that are facing critical supply issues. With this new fundraise, we are well-positioned and well funded to help solve this global problem. We’re delighted to have the support of leading investors across the globe who will be integral in enabling us to take our Nigerian-born model to the world.”
Jide Odunsi, co-founder and co-CEO at Moove, said: “At Moove, we are working hard to create disruptive and impactful tech solutions to solve real-world problems. The Moove model that we’ve pioneered in Africa providing revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs can be applied anywhere in the world, which is why we’re excited to be expanding to new emerging markets in Asia and the MENA region. As we scale, we remain committed to empowering women, leading the electrification of the mobility space and driving financial inclusion. These ideals are at the core of what we do as we continue to build a sustainable and impact-driven global business.”
Stefan Klestil, General partner at Speedinvest, said: “Ladi and Jide are redefining what fintech can be, championing the use of revenue-based vehicle financing to empower people through employment and ensure platforms such as Uber have a steady flow of drivers and couriers to enable their business expansion. With six markets under their belts already and partnerships with leading platforms, they are ready to further scale. We’re delighted to be backing Moove again as they grow the business across the world.”
Dan Ahrens, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital, said: “We’re excited to be doubling down on our investment in Moove. Despite the global challenges of the past two years, Moove has gone from strength to strength and expanded its services to include bikes and trucks to tap into growing mobility opportunities. The team has an ambitious roadmap ahead of them and we can’t wait to see how the company grows over the next year.”
Rainer Schwarz, Partner at thelatest.ventures, said: “In only a short space of time, Ladi and Jide have built a rocketship of a business. Their unique approach to pioneering financial inclusion through the use of technology is helping to transform employment opportunities and transport infrastructure across four countries already, with many more to come. We look forward to supporting them as they continue to expand Moove’s impact beyond the continent in 2022.”
Julius Tichelaar, Partner at AfricInvest, said: “At AfricInvest, we are focused on supporting and growing companies that we believe will go beyond their own borders and become regional champions. Ladi and Jide have proven that Moove has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people across the continent and we’re delighted to be supporting them as they expand Moove in Africa and beyond into more emerging markets. Through the AfricInvest FIVE Fund, we’re incredibly proud to be joining Ladi, Jide and all the Moovers on their exciting journey of disrupting financial services.”
Takashi Sano, Chief Investment Officer at MUFG Innovation Partners, said: “Having previously backed successful super apps in South East Asia, we’re excited about joining the Moove rocketship. Moove has paved the way for a new type of fintech – a mobility fintech that combines financial services with entrepreneurship and employment for thousands of people so far. There are huge opportunities for the company in SSA as well as other emerging markets and we’re looking forward to working with Ladi and Jide as the company grows across the world.”
Sean Dunne, Partner at Kreos Capital, said: “In under two years, Ladi, Jide and the Moove team have built an incredible company that is empowering thousands of mobility entrepreneurs, providing a solution to the supply problem that so many marketplaces are facing. We’re delighted to be partnering with Moove and to be supporting them on the next steps of their journey to reach more mobility entrepreneurs in emerging markets and transform access to vehicle financing.”
