SafeBoda Receives Investment from Google’s Africa Investment Fund
Ugandan super app and mobility provider, SafeBoda, has become the first startup to receive investment from Google’s Africa Investment Fund. The undisclosed funding came from the $50m Africa Investment Fund announced two months ago by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Targeted at early- and growth-stage startups on the continent, Google will invest $50M in startups and provide them with access to Google’s employees, network, and technologies to help them build impactful products for their communities.
Founded in 2015 by Maxime Dieudonne, Rapa Thomson Ricky, and Alastair Sussock, SafeBoda is a community of entrepreneurs and Boda (motorcycles) drivers that are revolutionizing transportation, payments, and on-demand services in Africa’s cities and believes that everyone in African cities should have access to affordable services at a click of a button.
The startup currently operates in both Uganda and Nigeria with more than 25,000 drivers who have completed over 40 million orders in both markets.
Ricky Rapa Thomson, one of the co-founders of the startup said: “SafeBoda welcomes Google to their community and is excited to continue to drive innovation in informal transportation and payments in the Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi driver in East Africa) or okada (West Africa) industry.
As a former Boda driver in Kampala, I know that we are the lifeblood of Africa’s cities and we power economic development. SafeBoda is thrilled that leading global companies such as Google see the importance of backing start-ups working towards these goals.”
Nitin Gajria, Managing Director for Google in Africa added: “I am thrilled about our first investment from the $50M Africa Investment Fund that we announced two months ago. This is part of our ongoing commitment to tech startups in Africa. I am of the firm belief that no one is better placed to solve Africa’s biggest problems than Africa’s young developers and entrepreneurs. We look forward to announcing subsequent investments in other startups.”
The latest funding will help drive SafeBoda’s growth in Uganda and Nigeria, scaling its transportation-led app to offer new payment and financial services solutions for its expanding set of customers: passengers, drivers, and merchants.