Ugabus is a Ugandan bus company that aggregates inter-city bus operators. The acquisition was funded with a recent raise that acted as an extension to a previous seed round, according to Onyeka Akumah, CEO and co-founder of Treepz.
The seed extension came from new investors, including Japan-based Uncovered Fund, as well as Blanford Capital, Jonomi Capital, and Egypt-based Jedar Capital. Treepz is closing the seed round.
Treepz is entering the East African market with the acquisition of Ugabus. Ugabus currently has 70% of all the country's bus operators on its platform, which includes around 50,000 customers that use the service to travel between cities in Uganda, according to Treepz.
It is easy to move from Uganda to other countries in East Africa because of the seamless borders. First, the plan is to extend into Tanzania and Burundi. We will pay attention to those places next year. We are interested in Ethiopia as well. We did the same thing with all of Africa, from Nigeria to the West African region. Next year, we will consolidate our positions on East Africa and West Africa and start collapsing into Sub Saharan Africa.
In Lagos, Treepz has a business model that consists of three sectors. The main service is called Daily Treepz. It allows riders to reserve seats using the app and pay via a digital wallet system, and it has fixed daily routes. Treepz has a model similar to Ugabus that allows it to act as an Aggregator for other bus companies. Treepz has recently introduced corporate bookings, providing transportation services for businesses.
When Treepz Uganda launches this week, it will offer corporate and intercity services.
It is easier for us to launch there with what we already have and what the team is used to, because we will look at the opportunity of doing Daily Treepz there in the future.
The majority of Treepz customers use the service twice a day, five days a week, spending an average of $2 to $3 daily on commute.
Bus operators are starting to see us as a technology partner. Bus operators can now use the Treepz technology to power their systems. It turns out to be a great opportunity for growth for us. As we aggregate bus operators for city to city, we also work with bus operators within cities. Over time, the numbers grow around the transactions that happen on our platform.
Treepz received funds from the African Investment Fund, which the startup will use to aggressively expand its on-demand ride-sharing and bus ticketing services in Africa. Treepz was accepted into Techstars Toronto and has plans to expand as far as Toronto, but is instead focused on helping the African transportation industry.
Takuma Terakubo, CEO and general partner of Uncovered Fund, said that Treepz is building the most important mobility infrastructure in Africa. Public transportation is important in African countries.
Onyeka Akumah is the founder of Plentywaka.
