Zenobē Energy, an investor known for supporting electric transportation initiatives, including the financing and operation of electric buses, led the round for GoMetro. Notably, Zenobē Energy recently secured a substantial $750 million investment from KKR, for fleet electrification financing.

Zenobē Energy engages in large-scale battery projects for wind farms, and with the U.K.’s National Grid among its customers, sees the importance of robust data quality in driving financing decisions. This perspective motivated Zenobē Energy’s lead investment in GoMetro, a company specializing in logistics optimization software.

GoMetro’s flagship product, Bridge, is a platform that consolidates vehicle data, regardless of make or model, into a unified system. This technology is particularly crucial for fleet managers who can now access and analyze data without being constrained by disparate telematics systems associated with different original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Founder and CEO Justin Coetzee, a civil engineer with a background in constructing transportation networks, launched GoMetro to address the inadequacy of available data in South Africa. The company’s journey began in 2014 with the creation of a chatbot that informed people about train arrival times, eventually evolving into a comprehensive SaaS fleet management technology platform.

GoMetro’s strategic move into the electric vehicle (EV) category has significantly contributed to its business growth. The company currently boasts a network of over 15,000 vehicles, including 1,000 electric vehicles, and has partnerships with 60 trucking and logistics companies. Recognizing the shift to EVs across the transportation sector, Coetzee aims to pioneer OEM-agnostic electric vehicle telematics, managing electric buses and trucks more effectively.

Beyond its focus on EVs, what sets GoMetro apart is its ability to let clients activate any telematics unit, not limited to their own, consolidating all fleets and subcontracting assets into a unified virtual cloud. The company leverages its ETA algorithms to identify operational bottlenecks, ensuring prompt attention to any delays or issues.

With a pay-per-use model for its API service and various products offered on a monthly subscription basis, GoMetro actively delivers tangible value to its clients. Over the past 12 months, the company has experienced a doubling in revenue, with plans to triple its current revenue by the end of the next year.

The Series A funding of $11.4 million will solidify GoMetro’s operations in the U.K., Europe, and South Africa. The company is also focused on expanding to the U.S., Latin America, and Australia within the next 12 months, tapping into markets where Zenobē Energy has a significant presence. Coetzee also expressed interest in the Middle East, particularly Dubai and Saudi Arabia, citing similar challenges and problems in fleet management in those markets.

GoMetro seeks to further growth and innovation, with plans to use the funding to grow its engineering teams, distribution and partner management teams, and invest in advancing electric bus and truck management. Coetzee expressed excitement about African technology’s global recognition, highlighting the partnership with a market leader in London as validation of the talent and impact that African technology companies can make on a global scale.

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The typical South African commuter already spends up to 40% of their income on transport and the minibus taxi sector is still struggling from the impact of the last two years on their operations.  However, relief could be possible from an unlikely source – electric minibus taxis. Privately-owned minibus taxis are ubiquitous in sub-Saharan Africa and carry more than 70% of daily commuters.

A project team of companies and research institutions today announced a research partnership to investigate and advance the feasibility of an electric minibus taxi in South African conditions by testing production vehicles in South Africa in 2023.

For the last five years GoMetro, a global mobility management technology company with its head office in Cape Town, has collected data on taxi operations across South Africa.  

In order to advance e-mobility development locally, GoMetro has convened a project team of innovative companies and researchers to launch a demonstrator project to test the first minibus in South African conditions by January 2023.

The project team, consisting of GoMetro, MiX Telematics, HSW, ACDC Dynamics, and various entities within Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Engineering, will conduct rigorous and extensive testing in and around the town of Stellenbosch, as well as putting the electrification of the minibus taxi sector firmly on the national agenda by means of an educational roadshow in all nine provinces in the course of 2023.

A number of viable electric minibus taxi models from various markets have been identified, the first of which will be on South African shores by the end of the year. The acceptance and practicality of the model will be extensively tested with taxi owners and drivers, in order to identify the use-cases and conditions where an electric taxi would make the most sense.

“Taxi drivers and owners are very interested and intrigued by the idea of an electric minibus taxi, and are constantly asking us when the first electric minibus taxi will arrive on our shores”, says Justin Coetzee, GoMetro CEO.

“We have built valuable relationships with a large number of taxi associations, and the ever-increasing fuel price is a massive concern among owners, drivers and riders alike, as there does not seem to be any relief in sight. The industry has long acknowledged that business as usual will not suffice – and that change is required, especially after the effects of COVID-19”.

The aim of testing different models over the coming months, is to establish which vehicle will be best suited to the South African public transport industry, and what spectrum of operations are conducive to the range capabilities of the vehicles. In addition to testing the vehicle itself, the project team wants to engage with the automotive sector and policy makers to encourage proactive discussions with the government around the reduction of duties and the promotion of the adoption of electric vehicles in the transport sector.

“Since MiX Telematics is at the forefront of innovation and leveraging new technologies to improve fleet operations and efficiency,  we are very excited to be part of this pioneering initiative. We have seen the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles increasing exponentially in Europe, and so look forward to learning how we can support these solutions in the South African context,” says Catherine Lewis, Executive VP of Technology at MiX Telematics.

Professor Thinus Booysen, Research Chair in the Internet of Things at Stellenbosch University, will lead the team of testing experts. “The informal taxi sector must transform to EVs, but little is known about their energy requirements. This unknown is overshadowed by our energy scarcity and coal dependence on the electricity supply side. This collaborative project will ensure we are prepared for and carefully manage this exciting transition,” says Booysen. The electric minibus taxi will be showcased at the Stellenbosch University campus.

According to Dr Bernard Bekker, Associate Director of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES), the future electrification of the transport section in South Africa raises significant technical and regulatory challenges related to integrating electric transport into our existing grid infrastructure.

These challenges are in many ways unique to South Africa, where minibus taxis will potentially represent a much larger proportion of the future electrical fleet than for example Europe or the USA.

“The availability of a real-life electric minibus taxi to inform our research activities will provide very valuable inputs into addressing these challenges.”

“The minibus taxi is ubiquitous in the South African landscape moving millions of people over the years, contributing to getting South Africa to work – unfortunately in an environmentally unsustainable manner. ACDC Dynamics is proud to be part of the change that will be brought to this industry as it adopts electric/battery powered taxi’s through our capabilities to supply battery charging networks across the country,” says Mario Maio, Founder and Managing Director of ACDC Dynamics.

“HSW is passionate about bringing manufacturing local. The Western Cape has all the technical skills and resources to set up manufacturing facilities in support of such an initiative. There are already existing Electronic Manufacturers who have world class capabilities in the Manufacturing of electronic products such as Barracuda Holdings who is one of HSW’s key customers as evidence that this type of hi-tech manufacturing technology is already available locally,” says Ryan Webb, Managing Member HSW.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are heralded as a silver bullet to globally decarbonise the transport sector. The development of low-carbon transport in cities is part of the global agenda to delay climate change and relates to many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

While EV sales have increased substantially in the Global North and many global vehicle manufacturers plan to stop production of combustion engines as early as 2030, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the transition to EVs continues to be painstakingly slow. This research project aims to accelerate this transition to cleaner and greener mobility.

The post Innovation Hits High in Africa: First Electric Minibus Taxi Coming to South Africa  appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The mobility management platform enables public transport and logistics operators to boost operational efficiency, futureproof their services, and tighten their competitiveness. The solution improves the operations of hundreds of fleets around the world by providing the building blocks for the rapid development of mobility applications.

The seed extension round came from Kalon Venture Partners, Hlayisani Capital, Tritech Global, 4Decades Capital, and E Squared Investments, which will be used for key hires and to continue to invest in its innovative tech platform, product engineering and development.

“By using our mobility management platform and digitising their entire fleet, operators can save up to 30 per cent in operating costs by increasing overall vehicle utilisation, controlling excess mileage and managing back-office costs. We have also seen our customers increase the certainty and accuracy of their delivery windows by 50 per cent,” said the CEO of GoMetro, Justin Coetzee.

Kalon Venture Partners CEO, Clive Butkow, said he was excited to be an investor in a business that continued to scale locally and globally.

“Kalon’s investment was motivated by the exceptional GoMetro team, as well as the innovative digitization of transport operations to better manage mobility. The GoMetro fleet works with logistics providers’ existing investment in telematics, provides accurate route planning and on-time alerts, and saves them money in back-office costs and contract performance,” he said.

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