The investment marks Yango Ventures’ continued commitment to supporting high-potential startups across emerging markets and strengthening digital infrastructure across the continent.

Gigmile is building the infrastructure for last-mile delivery in Africa by equipping gig workers with access to vehicle financing, software tools, and operational support.

This strategic partnership will support Gigmile’s regional expansion and help improve delivery efficiency and financial inclusion across the continent.

“Gigmile is working on a problem we understand deeply: how to build delivery systems that work for businesses and for the couriers who keep them running. Our experience in urban logistics gives us a strong foundation to help them scale responsibly and efficiently. We’re proud to support a team that shares our commitment to building practical, tech-enabled infrastructure across Africa.” said Daniil Shuleyko, CEO of Yango Group.

Gigmile is addressing one of the continent’s most dynamic and fast-growing sectors: last-mile delivery.

By combining technology, flexible financing models, and data-driven workforce management, the company empowers gig couriers with the tools they need to operate efficiently and earn sustainably.

Yango Ventures’ investment will fuel product development, strengthen operational capabilities, and accelerate Gigmile’s expansion across multiple African markets.

Yango Ventures focuses on early-stage startups from Seed to Series B in sectors such as O2O (Online-to-Offline), B2B SaaS, and FinTech.

With an initial $20 million fund and plans for scalable growth, the corporate venture arm continues to expand its portfolio with companies building transformative, tech-driven solutions in high-growth regions across Africa, MENAP, LATAM, and beyond.

The investment in Gigmile reflects Yango Group’s broader strategy to support digital transformation and technological progress worldwide.

Through Yango Ventures, the company continues to back promising entrepreneurs by offering access to capital, operational expertise, and a global network that accelerates scalable, community-driven growth.

The international ride-hailing company has teamed up with MTN to offer drivers free data packages for the Yango Pro app.

This collaboration represents a monumental stride in the shared vision of both organizations to innovate and elevate service offerings; underscoring MTN’s belief of offering a modern connected world, as well as Yango’s unwavering commitment to enhance the well-being of its partner drivers.

This partnership is designed to offer a simple, fast and convenient experience for drivers and will cover Abidjan.

The package will enable drivers to save at least FCFA 5,000 per month on internet, SMS and voice services. In addition, Yango’s partner drivers registered in a fleet will be able to benefit from reduced call charges to talk to each other.

Côte d’Ivoire is the first country chosen by the company to launch this project with MTN.

• MTN is extending unrestricted data usage to Yango drivers, delivering always-on connectivity.
• Packages accessible through fleet partners, liberating drivers from any usage restrictions.
• Significantly discounted rates for internet, SMS, and calls, translating to monthly savings of at least 10K CFA
• Fleet companies also benefit from discounted communication with their Yango drivers

Honore KOUAME, GM MTN Business said,

“We are happy to partner with Yango and we look forward to providing their partner drivers base access to MTN products and services in Ivory coast. We believe that these partnerships will help us achieve our broader strategy of delivering better services for all our customer’s needs. We seek to extend our offering to more customers by leveraging Yango’s network and platform.”

He added, “With this new partnership, Yango and MTN will offer and allow us to address the needs of these old and new customers. This decision is based on Yango’s credibility and excellent performance over the years and is consistent with MTN’s mission.”

Kadotien Soro, Country Manager of Yango Cote DÍvoire said:

“We are excited about this collaboration with MTN, one of the leading telecommunications companies in Region. We have big ambitions and we are committed to helping our partners’ drivers to amplify their businesses and increase earnings, and providing quality service to all our customers at an affordable price’’.

He added “through this partnership, we are pleased to offer the best of Services and offer free telephone packages to our Partners Drivers across Ivory coast. This is part of our continued commitment to conveniently offer Drivers the largest range of quality services at the best prices.”

Being committed to leveraging the power of technology to improve the lives of the customers, Yango as one of the sponsors, will present a brand-new service and insights tailored to the MENA region’s evolving demands.

Ride-hailing solutions and global expansion

In just a year, the number of active Yango users globally has tripled, marking a 200% growth and over 150 million rides.

These figures emphasize the increasing demand for Yango’s innovative platform, showcasing its monumental success in over 20 countries, including 12 new markets launched within the past year.

In addition Yango has launched a wide range of innovative technological solutions focused on safety of all rides across many markets such as speeding control and driving style monitoring, as well as build in the app Safety Center for all users and drivers.

Yango is also working on launching rooting monitoring that will make all rides even more safe and reliable.

Attendees will gain insights from panel discussions and a special Tech Talk hosted by Adeniyi Adebayo, CBDO, Yango who will deep dive into the technology that sets the company apart at “Mobility as a Service x Global Pioneers” panel on 17 October 2023.

Adeniyi Adebayo, CBDO, Yango “As Yango celebrates its Fifth-Year anniversary in the Region, we are happy to sponsor this exclusive global Industry event. We are looking forward to our participation and showcasing our latest innovations, exchanging insights at Gitex 2023, and forging valuable relationships and will continue to do that. Our overarching objective is to make a significant impact on urban mobility and technology and foster the socioeconomic growth of the Middle East and Africa and join forces with a number of local and international partners to promote responsible investment and regulation of the digital sector in the Region,’ Adebayo added.

A brand-new service

Yango, as a tech company that transforms global technologies into everyday services for local enrichment, is planning to demonstrate its strong commitment to innovation in various fields and bring to GITEX a brand new service.

The new service is designed to open up new opportunities in people’s daily lives, bringing cutting edge technologies to every user.

Visit Yango at Hall 14, Stand F40 at GITEX 2023 to experience the cutting-edge solutions that power Yango’s model.

Visitors can look forward to exclusive giveaways, enticing promo codes, and interactive demos of the brand’s latest devices.

Across all markets, the company has added new cutting-edge speeding and driving style monitoring technologies which are activated during all the service’s rides.

This offering comes as an extension to the existing number of safety features including tap buttons for SOS to contact local authorities, emergency situations feature to contact the service’s urgent team, route sharing and a Safety Centre which combines new and existing features.

Speeding control and driving style monitoring technologies are designed to enhance road safety and reduce the risk of accidents.

With GPS control the system proactively monitors drivers’ speed during the Yango rides and sends notifications to drivers.

Driving style monitoring uses a system that is sensitive to harsh mobile vibrations such as hard braking.

When the system detects these fluctuations, it sends notifications to the drivers as well. For drivers with regular violations, the access to the service will be lost.

Additionally, Yango evaluates driving style based on passengers’ feedback.

Apart from these features Yango continues to work on a number of technologies that would bring the safety of rides to a whole new level.

Among those is an AI-driven route monitoring system that will allow the support team to monitor deviations from the route during rides in the real time.

Although a work in progress at the moment, the feature will be tested in a number of markets before the end of 2023.

The Yango team believes that by combining the already announced features with the newly developed ones, it will create the safest ride-hailing service in the region, bringing the bar of quality to an unprecedented high and provide safety for both drivers and riders.

Adeniyi Adebayo, Chief Business Officer at Yango, stated:

“Riders and partners’ drivers safety is our №1 priority. We believe that with this updated set of safety features for both the rider and driver, Yango is raising the bar for road safety in ride-hailing and ensuring a safer and more responsible ride for all. Our overarching objective is to empower Africa with state-of-the-art technology ride-hailing solutions, and these ongoing Safety upgrades align perfectly with our mission.  Our commitment to safety is long term so you will see more as these new features become available in all our markets based on what our users and drivers feedback.”

Among those safety features that are already built-in within the app, Yango points out the following.

Before the trip the drivers have access to the passenger’s number of trips, and there are further plans to introduce passengers rating based on the feedback from the previous trips as well as the rider’s selfie.

Also, in the countries where it is compliant with the applicable legislation, Yango provides a Conflict button for drivers allowing them to record audio for sharing with the dedicated support team in the event of a safety incident.

The recorded audio cannot be accessed from the device itself with the access available only for the support team.

After the trip drivers can also leave feedback about the rider in the driver’s app and contact a dedicated support incidents team. Also, in specific countries there is a feature for drivers which allows them to see alert zones in the city and decline trips to these areas without penalty.

There is a wide variety of features available for riders too. Before a trip a rider gets to see the driver’s profile which has a rating score based on the feedback about previous rides. This profile also includes a current photo and helps the user to compare the image with the real driver.

The drivers’ license photo check features require drivers to send his/her selfie from time to time for system comparison and for checks on validity of licenses before drivers can have access to accept orders. This is also reaffirmed by vehicle document checks.

During trips, riders have a special feature known as the Safety Center. Here, riders have the SOS-button to alert local authorities in case of emergency, the share route button to share route and trip details with contacts in the phone book. In several countries the passenger can make a request to the Yango urgent team through the Emergency situation button. There is also a support incident team available.

With over 150 million rides taken by Yango users, the service’s rapid expansion is evident with its presence in more than 20 countries worldwide, including 12 new markets within the past year.

In a testament to its exponential growth in the African region, the number of rides in African markets of the company’s presence has tripled over the past year, as has the number of active Yango users in Africa, reflecting the increasing popularity and demand for the platform’s services.