Nigerian shared mobility company, Shuttlers has raised $4 million in a funding round led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), a Pan-African-focused venture capital firm.
Other investors who participated in the round were VestedWorld, the lead investor in Shuttlers’ $1.6 million round 18 months ago, SheEquity, CMC 21 & Alsa, and EchoVC. This takes the mobility startup’s total funding amount to $5.6 million.
The funding will be used to enhance Shuttlers’ technology while building infrastructure to power its mass transit business, enabling employee transportation for more corporates and increasing its market share as it expands to other cities within Nigeria. The startup also seeks to hire more talent in its sales, marketing and customer support departments.
Including enabling employees seamlessly book seats on one of the buses along predetermined and scheduled routes, Shuttlers provides live bus tracking, optimal routing based on traffic, digital payments, and ride schedules. Its offerings also three payment plans which include companies paying full fares for employees, companies splitting fares with employees, and individual customers paying fares themselves. These fares range from N850 (~$1.96) and N1300 (~$2.60).
Since its last seed round in 2021, Shuttlers has increased its over 100 buses assigned to 30 routes across Lagos State, to almost 260 buses going through 300 routes across Lagos and Abuja daily. Its clientele is made up of more than 80 companies, including Interswitch, MainOne and Paga, and has helped the company record 3 million trips so far, with 70,000 users having taken a ride on its platform.
Founded by Damilola Olokesusi in 2016, Shuttlers affirms to have built an infrastructure that allows its expansion into different geographies within and outside Nigeria. The company supports multiple stakeholders, from partners and drivers to marshals, as well as administrative bodies.
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