$1.2 M seed funding raised by Senegalese logistics startup Yobante Express
Yobante Express, a Senegalese delivery business that links local couriers with local commerce to optimise domestic, cross-border, and last-mile delivery, has secured a US $1.2 million bridge funding round to continue its rapid expansion.
Yobante Express, which launched in November 2018, is a web and mobile platform that employs gig economy, independent, and casual couriers inside a robust mesh network of relay points to deliver goods twice as fast and 40% more inexpensively than existing alternatives.
Yobante Express has secured a bridge round of US$1.2 million, ahead of a Series A that will begin later this year. Grenfell Holdings, Launch Africa Ventures, R-Ventures, Libertad via its investment arm Aguila Investments, and a group of high-profile local and international angel investors are among the investors. It will be utilised to assist the startup’s growth in South Africa and Nigeria.
Oumar Basse, the startup’s co-founder, and CEO told Disrupt Africa that the company had an annual revenue run rate of US $8 million and had delivered 1.2 million packages.
“We plan to carry 2 million parcels in 2021,” he said. “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.”
Yobante Express aims to raise a Series A investment later this year to expand into nations around all of its present stations.
“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,” Basse said.
