By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian mobility tech startup Metro Africa Xpress Inc. (MAX) has secured $31 million in Series B funding that will spur its expansion into Ghana and Egypt by the end of the first quarter of 2022 as well as aid in its infrastructural development of electric vehicles.
The startup will also be looking at pushing further expansion into other additional markets in Francophone, East and Southern Africa by the close of the same year.
The latest funding round was led by the global private equity platform, Lightrock, which is making its first investment in the African mobility space.
Others included the UAE-based international venture capital firm, Global Ventures, as well as existing investors Novastar Ventures, and Proparco, the French development finance institution, through their Digital Africa initiative.
The new injection into the company will also be used to extend vehicle financing credit to over 100,000 drivers in the next two years.
Also part of its catalogue of services, MAX plans to build electric vehicle infrastructure in its new markets, with the intention of introducing electric vehicles (EVs) to its emerging clientele.
Speaking on the new development, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of MAX, Mr Adetayo Bamiduri noted that, “It is another milestone in our journey to make mobility safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable by deploying high-performance technologies and operators.
“The investment will enable us to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of drivers across the continent, accelerate international expansion, and continue our pioneering initiatives in the mobility space.”
The company currently provides two, three and four-wheeler EVs to drivers through various leasing and financing options and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company, Mr Bertrand Njoya explained that EVs are the next big thing and it was important that the company be at the forefront.
“It’s an additional option that we wanted to provide to the drivers because what they care most about is making a decent living through increased income. For us, electric mobility is going to be a significant driver of that objective because EVs are today more cost-effective than their gas equivalents,” Mr Njoya said.
According to the CFO, MAX currently designs and assembles its own line of electric motorcycles working with partners across the ecosystem, including Yamaha, a leading motorcycle manufacturer, to deliver their EVs.
“We work with Yamaha in the area of access to vehicles for the drivers, and in the access to finance. As a testament of the success of our work and partnership, Yamaha today has set up a dedicated driver vehicle financing entity for Africa against the backdrop of the work that we’ve been doing with them over the past couple of years,” said Mr Njoya.
MAX started out in 2015 as a delivery startup using motorcycles to fulfil customer orders before venturing into ride-hailing, and later into vehicle subscription and financing services – solutions it came up with based on the data from its first services.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Modupe Gbadeyanka