In sub-Saharan AfricaAccording to United Nations statistics, only 33% of the city’s population has access to public transport, compared to 75% in Europe and North America. That means much of the continent faces the challenges of pursuing new job opportunities, going to school, accessing health care, and just staying in the city.
This lack of access to transport stands in stark contrast to other upstream measures of equitable access to education and health services on the African continent. In fact, Africa has the highest return to education of any continent, increasing earnings by 11% for males and 14% for females each year. The combination of an increasingly educated workforce and public transportation means the way people move is ripe for disruption. Trapez, the Nigerian startup that is expanding its bus aggregator service across the continent, could be a major cause of that disruption.
“We cannot continue to complain about the failure. I’d say it’s helping us be strong.” Onyaka Akumah, CEO of Trapez
Since Trapez, formerly Plentywaka, was founded in Lagos in 2019, the startup has expanded west to Ghana and east to Uganda. Co-founder and CEO Onyaka Akumah said these locations will serve as a launching pad for further expansion into sub-Saharan Africa.
We caught up with Akumah, who we first interviewed a year ago, to see the progress of Treepz and discuss why a conservative funding environment works for better business, how Africa’s startup scene is maturing, and what it takes to succeed in transportation tech.
The following interview, part of an ongoing series with founders building transportation companies, has been edited for length and clarity.
TechCrunch: You last closed a $2.8 million seed round in November. I assume they are currently raising a Series A for you. How are you getting funding in a recession?
Onika Akumah: We’re getting ready to raise our Series A, and we already have some interest. Some of our investors want to invest but are waiting for us to go to market. We were going to market before the recession hit.
The funding environment has changed, certainly, with the reduction. The grant cycle was about six months to go through one round, and now we’re looking at 12 to 18 months to close. Investors are seeing more time devoted to due diligence.
