Senegalese Logistics Startup Yobante Express closes $1.2M Seed Funding

Senegalese logistics startup Yobante Express, has announced it raised $1.2m in a seed funding round to help it spread across South Africa and Nigeria, as it looks to build on its impressive growth.

The funding round was led by Grenfell Holdings, Libertad (through its investment branch, Aguila Investments), R-Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, and a pool of local and international angel investors.

Yobante Express was founded in November 2018, the startup operates an online marketplace that connects local couriers with local commerce to optimise domestic, cross-border and last mile delivery.

Yobante Express leverages its web and mobile platform that links local couriers, within a resilient mesh network of relay points, with local commerce to deliver packages from point to point until the last mile.

Yobante Express had taken part in the Startupbootcamp AfriTech accelerator program in Cape Town in 2019 and is now active in 5 African markets outside of Senegal – Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana and Zimbabwe, the startup claims it has an annual run rate of 1.2 million parcels carried and $8m in revenues.

Oumar Basse, Co-founder & CEO speaking on the funding pointed that the startup intends to keep covering more grounds in the logistics space.

“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.

“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,” said Oumar.