Based out of Paris, Heetch, a ride-sharing app, has raised $4 million (approx €3.6 million) from AfricInvest to complete its $42 million (approx €38 million) Series B.
Launched in 2013, Heetch, aims to build friendly and fair mobility solutions for their drivers and passengers. In France, Heetch has been exclusively focusing on VTC drivers since 2017 and has rapidly become one of the top 3 players. In 2018, Heetch launched its operations in Casablanca, Morocco, in partnership with the country’s major taxi unions.
Heetch has already become the market leader, establishing itself as the only legal ride-sharing app in the country and is now active in all the major cities (Rabat, Marrakech, etc.). Following its last fundraising round, a couple of months ago, Heetch has successfully launched in 2 more countries: Algeria and Cameroon.
In Algiers, Heetch immediately became one of the main actors and is willing to take over the market thanks to its experience and ability to build healthy drivers communities. In Douala, Heetch has developed an unique moto-taxi service. All Heetch drivers are trained to respect the roads safety rules, are equipped of helmets and other safety equipment. Thanks to its monitoring, Heetch has created a reliable, affordable and safe mobility solution, which is very important in a city where there are way too many accidents.
Teddy Pellerin, co-founder of Heetch, said:
The Maghreb and French-speaking Central and West Africa represent major opportunities for Heetch. In fast-growing cities with limited public transport infrastructure, our service can greatly improve mobility for city dwellers. Since we share a common language, it’s a bit easier for us to understand and adapt our offer to local specificities. Besides, we always prefer to partner with a local entrepreneur to create a business that is partly French and partly local.
Heetch plans to open 6 new African countries next year (Tunisia, Senegal, etc.). Depending on the local regulation, Heetch works with private, taxi or moto-taxi drivers.
Yassine Oussaifi, Partner at AfricInvest, said:
Heetch has developed an ambitious Africa strategy in order to offer innovative, inclusive, safe and reliable mobility solutions for millions of urban Africans, developed by one of the brightest management teams in the industry. We appreciate the pragmatic approach of the team that will build and adapt the service to the local context, in close partnership with entities on the ground.
Teddy Pellerin added:
France is very important to us. Our goal is to continue to grow on our main market thanks to a great proximity with our drivers. We take lower commission fees and we do whatever we can to build a healthy market for everyone, including our drivers.
Right now, Heetch operates in 9 cities in France (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes) where it is already one of the top 3 players.
Main image credit: Heetch
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more European technology news.
