Gokada raises $5.3 million Series A round
Ride hailing startup, Gokada has raised a $5.3 million Series A round.
Rise Capital led the investment joined by Adventure Capital, IC Global Partners, and Illinois based First MidWest Group. Gokada will become the third African (and Nigerian) startup that Rise Capital has invested in, after iROKOtv and PrepClass and their Managing Director for Africa (founder, Jobberman) Ayodeji Adewunmi will be joining the company as Co-CEO.
Since co-founded in 2018 by Bangladeshi entrepreneur, Fahim Saleh, the startup has trained and on-boarded over 1000 motorcycles and their pilots using its app that connects commuters to Moto-taxis. They have also completed nearly 1 million rides.
According to Saleh, Gokada will use the financing to increase its fleet and ride volume, while developing a network to offer goods and services to its drivers. “We’re going to start a Gokada club in each of the cities with a restaurant where drivers can relax, and we’ll experiment with a Gokada Shop, where drivers can get things they need on a regular basis, such as plantains, yams, and rice,” Saleh told TechCrunch.
Unlike other ride-hail ventures, Gokada does not split fare revenue with drivers but charges them a flat-fee of 3000 Naira a day to work on their platform. The company aims to make a larger share of its revenue from building a commercial network around its rider community.
“We don’t do anything with the fares. We want to create an Amazon prime type membership…and ecosystem around the driver where we’re going to provide them more and more services, such as motorcycle insurance, maintenance, personal life-insurance, micro-finance loans” – Fahim Saleh (CEO and Co-founder, Gokada
However, Gokada will be facing competitors in the local scene like Max.ng, which offers mobile-based passenger and logistics delivery services and Ugandan-based, venture-backed bike hailing startup, SafeBoda, who are finalising plans to launch in Nigeria.
The motorcycle taxi market in Africa is becoming a significant subsector in the continent’s e-transport startup landscape. According to a TechSci study, “Africa Two-Wheeler Market By Vehicle Type, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011 – 2021”, the two-wheeler market in Africa has a collective revenue pool of $4 billion and is expected to double to $9 billion by 2021 with South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania as the largest two-wheeler markets in Africa.
