Nigeria’s mobility startup, Shuttlers, secures $4M new funding. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today

1. Nigeria’s mobility startup, Shuttlers, secures $4M new funding

A Nigerian shared-mobility startup, Shuttlers, has announced securing $4 million in a new funding round led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV).

CEO Damilola Olokesusi confirmed the funding in a statement on Tuesday.

VKAV, a Pan-African-focused venture capital firm, led the round with participation from follow-on investors, including VestedWorld, SheEquity, CMC 21 & Alsa, and EchoVC.

The startup allows employees to use Shuttlers to book seats on one of the buses along predetermined and scheduled routes.

“Before our first funding, when we didn’t do marketing and PR, I think we had the highest market share in bus hailing and sharing space.

“But now, there’s no doubt that we are miles apart from the competition, in terms of the number of customers, the technology and routes,” the CEO claimed.

Olokesusi added that Shuttler’s other features include live bus tracking, optimal routing based on traffic, digital payments, and ride schedules.

Tech Trivia: Which device is most similar to a router?
A. Printer
B. Modem
C. Switch
D. Mouse
Answer: see end of post

2. Apis Growth Fund II set to invest $31M in Peach Payments

A private equity fund managed by the UK-based asset manager Apis Partners LLP, Apis Growth Fund II, has proposed investing €29 million ($31 million) in Peach Payments.

Read also:Nigeria launches $618M subvention to fund startups. 2 other stories and a trivia

Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, of Apis Partners disclosed the funding in a media release on Tuesday.

Peach Payments bills itself as a rapidly growing digital payment service provider operating in South Africa, Kenya, and Mauritius.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the investment is still subject to approval from the Competition Commission of South Africa and other customary closing conditions.

“We have been impressed by the vision and execution of the management team as Peach Payments capitalises on these trends to bring more end-users into the digital economy, a key part of our drive to democratise access across the continent,” said Stefanel.

Peach Payments was founded by Jain and Andreas Demleitner in 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa, and expanded to Kenya in 2018 and to Mauritius in 2021.

3. WhatsApp testing feature to keep messages from disappearing for beta users

WhatsApp on Tuesday rolled out a new feature to keep messages from disappearing for some beta testers.

A reputable WhatsApp tipster, WABetaInfo, disclosed this on its website.

According to WABetaInfo, with the new feature, it is possible to stop some messages from disappearing.

“Thanks to the new update, you can prevent a disappearing message from disappearing by selecting the “keep” action, and everyone can keep a message from disappearing, even yours,” the web page claimed.

Trivia Answer: Switch

A switch is a piece of networking hardware that links multiple devices together on a network.

By Kayode Hamsat

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now