LULA, a ride-sharing platform for workers, has acquired the South African subsidiary of US-based staff bus-sharing startup Zeelo for an undisclosed sum.
The reason for selling the South African arm of Zeelo, is because the bus-sharing platform wants to double down on its US, UK, and Ireland markets. Zeelo completed more than 2 million rides annually in South Africa. LULA, the new owners, will leverage Zeelo’s 18,000 riders to expand across the country.
Founded in 2018 by Velani Mboweni and Xabiso Nodada, LULA is present in five cities in South Africa and claims to have completed 700,000 rides for over 380 companies.
The company also has over 1,000 registered drivers and shuttle fleet operators. LULA does not own the vehicles but partners with individual drivers and shuttle fleet operators to provide the rides for a commission ranging from 20% to 40%.
Xabiso Nodada, says that he – alongside CEO Velani Mboweni- started the business to connect people in emerging cities to economic opportunities, one shared ride at a time.
“Without access to transport, you cannot access economic opportunities and without those opportunities, you cannot address poverty, unemployment and inequality. We identified the gap to transport employees to and from businesses, especially for those who work outside of normal business hours. We knew that there was a more efficient, convenient and scalable way to reduce congestion, plus provide transportation for people where public transit doesn’t,” he says.
“The decision to exit the region was a challenging one [but] we are excited to support the transition of our customers and suppliers to the LULA platform,“ said Sam Ryan, founder and CEO of Zeelo.
