Since its launch in 2018 as a ride-hailing service in Togo, Gozem has steadily expanded throughout French-speaking West Africa, integrating a variety of companies because it sought to change into a super-app. The corporate now gives ride-hailing, commerce, car financing, and digital banking throughout Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon.
Now, in a bid to scale its ecosystem, Gozem has raised $30 million in a Collection B funding spherical — $15 million in fairness and $15 million in debt — led by SAS Delivery Businesses Companies and Al Mada Ventures. The corporate will use the funds to bolster its car financing service, and foray into new markets.
In response to the startup’s founders Gregory Costamagna and Raphael Dana, Gozem units itself aside from different ride-hailing and car financing platforms by ensuring its drivers are financially safe and might entry profession development alternatives.
Gozem’s ride-hailing service covers bikes, three-wheelers and vehicles, whereas its car financing product is aimed toward serving to its drivers buy autos. It additionally lets employees on its platform make meals and grocery deliveries as a part of its e-commerce enterprise.
“Our major shopper is the skilled driver,” Costamagna instructed TechCrunch. “We construct an ecosystem to assist drivers earn extra money and evolve of their lives. In the event that they’re profitable, our whole enterprise is profitable.”
When we coated Gozem’s $5 million Collection A in 2021, it had simply piloted its car financing mannequin, partnering with native banks and deploying over 1,500 autos that yr. Since then, the corporate has collaborated with worldwide lenders and the Worldwide Finance Company (IFC) and now funds round 7,000 autos.
To draw drivers to its platform, the corporate purchases autos utilizing a mixture of debt and fairness, and drivers will pay for these autos in installments. As a substitute of requiring upfront deposits, Gozem recoups prices by means of small deductions from drivers’ every day earnings. Uber-backed Moove, Asaak and MAX additionally provide car financing merchandise to drivers in numerous markets.
Gozem stated its program ensures that funds stay inexpensive relative to the driving force’s common earnings.
“We clarify to all our drivers that it is a long-term journey,” Costamagna stated. “We finance their motorbike, [but then they can upgrade to a [three-wheeler], then a automobile, ultimately changing into full car homeowners.”
The founders stated a good portion of the debt raised is slated for Gozem’s car financing vertical. The corporate can also be working to boost one other $20 million within the coming months to help its growth throughout Francophone Africa over the subsequent two years.
The super-app play
Many fintech and mobility platforms have tried to combine numerous companies below one tremendous app, however the mannequin hasn’t all the time been profitable. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, fee apps which have tried to evolve into tremendous apps, like SoftBank-backed Opay, have seen little success.
Gozem, nonetheless, is seeing traction due to an strategy that’s much like Southeast Asian supply and ride-hail giants Seize and Gojek. A few of its rivals, like BOND-backed Yassir and MNT-Halan, have additionally explored related fashions in Africa throughout the Maghreb area and Egypt to some success.
At the moment, the corporate has practically 10,000 registered drivers, and greater than 1,000,000 customers have used its platform thus far. It says its month-to-month customers quantity within the a whole lot of 1000’s.
Along with its core companies, Gozem has seen some development in digital ticketing, which is a part of its commerce division. The corporate resells occasion tickets throughout its markets, and says it has processed greater than 50,000 tickets in Togo alone for main concert events and occasions.
The corporate additionally forayed into digital banking (Gozem Cash) by way of the acquisition of Moneex in 2023. The service, at present dwell in Togo, lets customers make cell funds, and in response to the corporate, processes thousands and thousands of {dollars} every day.
Earlier than this newest Collection B, Gozem recorded run-rate gross merchandise worth of $50 million throughout its three product verticals. Dana stated the corporate expects to triple or quadruple its development in 2025 with the brand new capital.
He famous that the Collection B funding spherical validates Gozem’s mannequin, given the combination of commercial and monetary companies traders becoming a member of its cap desk. SAS Delivery Businesses Companies is a part of MSC Group, considered one of Africa’s largest container terminal operators, whereas Al Mada Ventures is the enterprise arm of pan-African monetary companies conglomerate Al Mada.
“It’s validation as a result of we now have traders working on the bottom in the identical markets the place we function,” stated Dana.