Shuttlers, a Lagos-based ride-sharing service, is seeking to raise US$1.5 million by the end of the second quarter to expand to cities such as Abuja and Accra.

The company, according to its CEO Damilola Olokesusi, is also planning to start running school buses in Lagos when the school year starts in September. Shuttlers have run pilot school bus projects but implementation has been held up by Covid-19.

Olokesusi co-founded the Shuttlers service, alongside Busola Majekodunmi and Damilola Quadry, in 2015 because as a young graduate she couldn’t afford a car, but public transport was too uncomfortable to use.

Larger companies were able to supply buses for their employees, but there was no practical solution for many people working at small or medium-sized companies, she says.

The solution was for Shuttlers to rent buses from private bus owners. The bus owners weren’t interested in smaller groups or individuals – the fastest way for them to fill the bus up was to rent it out to a large company.

Shuttlers saw an opportunity to buy the seats at wholesale prices and then sell them at retail prices on its platform.

Shuttlers customers are a mixture of small and medium-sized companies and individuals. The company has sold more than 500 million seats to date, and Olokesusi points to the impact in terms of reducing the number of cars on the road.

Read more... https://media.getfundedafrica.com/2021/03/16/nigerian-ride-sharing-service-shuttlers-seeks-funding-for-operational-expansion/