SafeBoda, a Ugandan super app, has become the first startup to receive investment from Google’s Africa Investment Fund. The undisclosed funding came from the $50 million Africa Investment Fund announced two months ago by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. The fund is targeted at early- and growth-stage startups on the continent.
Before launching the fund, Google proved helpful in startups’ journeys via its Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program.
The accelerator program has supported more than 80 startups in seed to Series A stages with equity-free mentorship and resources.
Founded in 2015 by Maxime Dieudonne, Rapa Thomson Ricky, and Alastair Sussock, SafeBoda is a community of entrepreneurs and Boda (motorcycles) drivers that are revolutionizing transportation, payments, and on-demand services in Africa’s cities and believes that everyone in African cities should have access to affordable services at a click of a button. It is present in both Uganda and Nigeria with more than 25,000 drivers who have completed over 40 million orders in both markets.
SafeBoda said the investment from Google’s Africa Investment Fund will help “drive its growth in Uganda and Nigeria, scaling its transportation-led app to offer new payment and financial services solutions for its expanding set of customers: passengers, drivers and merchants.”
“SafeBoda welcomes Google to their community and is excited to continue to drive innovation in informal transportation and payments in the boda boda (East Africa) or okada (West Africa) industry,” said co-founder Ricky Rapa Thomson in a statement.
“This vital industry is the lifeblood of Africa’s cities and powers economic development. SafeBoda is thrilled that leading global companies such as Google see the importance of backing startups working towards these goals.”
Commenting on the investment, Google spokesperson said in a written statement that the investment in SafeBoda was made to “strengthen a relationship with a potential future partner that has strategically aligned vision of better logistics and transportation.”
