Back in 2019, Plentywaka was launched by Enagwolor Johnny, John Shaibu, Oluseyi Afolabi, and Onyeka Akumah to provide hassle-free shared rides on-demand in Nigeria.
Since then, it has been a buzz of activities for the startup led by ex-Farmcrowdy CEO, Onyeka Akumah. In less than 3 years, Plentywaka has added more routes in Lagos, its launchpad, expanded to other Nigerian states, and recently acquired Ghana’s stabus to kickstart its pan-African expansion.
Additionally, it has raised funding to support its business. The most recent one was a seed round of $1.2 million. The Xchange, a Toronto-based fund, led this seed round, while Techstars followed on their previous investment in Plentywaka to participate in the round as well.
Per its pan-African plans and ambition, the mobility startup has rebranded and will henceforth be known as Treepz.
Commenting on the name change, Akumah said: “This name change is a result of in-depth discussions with our stakeholders, partners and staff. After we discovered that the term “WAKA” can mean different things across Africa, which may be completely different from travel or movement, we decided to change the name from ‘Plentywaka’ to ‘Treepz’ which is pronounced as ‘Trips.”
He added that the name Treepz embodies everything that happens on the road, traveling across cities, within cities and it gives a cool vibe to the experience.
Onyeka explained that Treepzz states the company’s mission to provide safe, convenient and comfortable trips across Africa with plans for an expansion to 6 countries in 2 years.
In line with the name change, the startup has unveiled a new logo. Meanwhile, its core service offerings will remain the same but with new names: daily Treepz (previously daily waka), travel Treepz (previously travel waka) and corporate Treepz (previously travel waka).
