ImpactAlpha, January 15 – South African transport data company WhereIsMyTransport aims to improve daily city travel by mapping both formal and informal modes of transport and making its data available to cities, transport operators, and passengers. The company has raised $1.85 million in a Series A funding round backed by mobility-focused venture fund Liil Ventures and prior investor Goodwell Investments, a Dutch and South African impact investment firm.
In African cities, informal modes of transit, like motorcycle and communal taxis, make up 80% of commuter trips, according to WhereIsMyTransport’s website. The open-data company launched in 2016 to give travelers and cities better visibility of the transit services available, capturing data like what modes operate regularly, how much they cost, and how frequent and reliable they are. Passengers can use the company’s data for daily planning via a variety of transit apps. WhereIsMyTransport also works with municipal governments and non-governmental organizations to support transit planning and coordination.
WhereIsMyTransport has mapped 30 emerging markets cities including most major cities in its native South and Southern Africa, and recently launched maps of cities in India and Latin America on its platform, Ventures Africa reports.
The company’s latest round of funding follows two small rounds that it raised last year, which were backed by the Global Innovation Fund, Canadian mobility solutions firm Bombardier and Goodwell. Goodwell, which has a €100 million ($114 million) fund to invest in high-impact companies in Africa, has supported WhereIsMyTransport in all three of its funding phases to date, including its earliest $1.5 million seed round in 2016. That first round was also backed by Omidyar Network and Horizon Ventures.
