Senegalese logistics startup, Chargel raises $750k in pre-seed funding round

Senegalese startup logistics startup, Chargel, has secured $750,000 in pre-seed funding round to help grow the trucking industry as a brand that is efficient, reliable, and transparent in Senegal and other Francophone West Africa. The funding round, a mix of equity and debt, had in participation, Century Oak Capital and Logos Ventures, as well as other well-known angel investors from Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.

Chargel is an online freight brokerage platform that connects carriers with available trucks. The platform matches shippers to the right transporters at convenient prices. Chargel also facilitates payments, fuel management, insurance, and other services.

Co-founded by Moustapha and Alioune Ndoye, the startup eases the process through which shippers connect with truckers, and as such, allows truckers to maximize the capacity of their trucks.

The funding would be used to upscale and grow the startup from the ground up and prepare the company for a seed round later this year. CEO and co-founder Moustapha Ndoye, commenting on the pre-seed funding said, “We are super excited by the response Chargel has received from both shippers and transporters during its pilot phase and can’t wait to embark on our mission to make trucking in our region more efficient, reliable and transparent. I can’t thank our investors enough for their trust in us and their faith in our startup.”

Managing partner and founder of Logos Ventures expressed his excitement to invest with Chargel founders, as they work to transform the trucking sector in Senegal.

“Based on their extensive entrepreneurial experience founding and exiting Teranga Solutions to HotelOnline, as well as working at Senegal’s first unicorn Wave Mobile Money, we strongly believe that Moustapha and Alioune are positioned to build Chargel into a leading logistics marketplace in Senegal, and eventually across West Africa,” he said.