Moove Uber-Backed, a mobility fintech born in Africa which offers vehicle financing to drivers for applying tension and delivery on six continents, acquired Kovi, a Brazilian urban mobility provider.
The value of the agreement is not disclosed, but Moove has confirmed that it was a transaction all -vares, and Kovi now belongs to Moove.
The co-founder and CO-PDG of Moove, Ladi Delano, told Techcrunch that the agreement dropped the annual turnover of Fintech mobility at 275 million dollars. Last March, Moove reported an $ 115 million.
The news comes two months after Moove announced a partnership with Waymo to provide fleet operations of driver -free vehicles in two American, Phoenix and Miami cities.
Delano said that the acquisition of Kovi Moove, based in São Paulo, marked an important step towards the company’s objective to build the largest driving fleet in the world. What started with 76 cars in Lagos, Nigeria, 2020, has now increased to 36,000 cars operating in 19 cities on six continents, Latin America now emerging as a key market.
Similarly, the acquisition unites two companies which take up the same challenge: the supply of financing solutions for carpooling drivers. Founded in 2018, Kovi supported by Y combinator launched to make the ownership of vehicles more accessible in Brazil. After the acquisition, the expectation of the approval of the Brazilian Antitrust Authority, Kovi will continue to operate under his brand while his executive and management teams will remain unchanged.
While Moove will keep the Kovi brand operating in its existing markets, Brazil and Mexico, it is planned to develop more in Latin America. Moove recently launched operations in three cities in Colombia and Mexico. As such, the acquisition more cements the position of Moove in Latin America, giving the company a major importance in Brazil, the largest co-hail market in the region.
“We are incredibly delighted to work with a fantastic team of people sharing the same ideas in Kovi who have implemented this company to solve a similar problem that we found in Nigeria,” he noted. “Kovi is one of the two best players in Brazil. We therefore not only entered or reinforced our presence on the Latin American market, but we also put ourselves in a position of the first two on the largest market in Latin America thanks to this acquisition. »»
Moove has built a third pillar on the global mobility market by offering food for vehicles to carpooling platforms. This includes its flagship product of Drive-to-Publié, a taxi and employment model and an emerging commercial line of autonomous vehicles (AV) involving mobility focused on AI.
While AI plays a key role in its AV trade line, Delano claims that the company’s mobility strategy will cover the entire business, the optimization of traditional carpooling services to the ‘Improvement of the management of the fleet, according to Delano. This is where Kovi’s acquisition is coming. . “”
We do not know if Kovi struggled financially before his acquisition by Moove. Its latest known financing cycle was a B series of $ 104 million in 2021 from investors like Valor Capital, Prose Ventures and Quona Capital. Despite fundraising to develop in Latin America, Kovi mainly focused on Brazil. That year, he declared $ 45 million in ARA, increasing by 15% per month.
The All-Share transaction means that the shareholders of Kovi investors in Moove, aligning their growth trajectories. In a press release, Kovi CEO Adhemar Milani Neto expressed confidence in the agreement. “I met the founders [Moove’s Delano and Jide Odunsi] Several years ago, when they evolved their business in Africa, and I was immediately impressed by their approach focused on the goal, which also corresponds to our culture. Together, I believe that we will become a truly global category definition company and that we will take advantage of the scale and in -depth expertise ever seen on our market. »»
Moove, which raised a B series of $ 100 million Uber last year to an assessment of $ 750 million, financed more than 50 million Uber trips worldwide, he said. The Mobility Fintech has obtained more than $ 500 million in debts and equity of backers like Mubadala, Blackrock, Franklin Templeton, Janus Henderson and IFC (World Bank) since its launch five years ago.
Delano refused to comment on new efforts to collect potential funds. Instead, he stressed that the company will focus on the conduct of its capricious activities on profitability this year and the realization of its vision of building the largest carpool of carpooling in the world.
