Mobility 54 Investment SAS invests in Kai Senegal.
August 24, 2021
Mobility 54 Investment SAS ("Mobility 54") - the corporate venture capital (“CVC”) subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") and CFAO SAS ("CFAO") - decided to participate in the Pre-series A Seed Round funding of YEEG SAS (Kai Senegal)
1. Background
The taxi industry in Senegal is still very traditional and the share of informal taxis (or clandos) went from less than a third in 2000 to more than half of total market today. While existing taxis fleet is quite aged, with generally a lack of a sufficiently transparent fares system, price sensitivity remains high and has prevented premium proposals to attract the growing middle class.
On the supply side, the vast majority of vehicles are not owned by the drivers themselves, resulting in very challenging oversight capabilities for the owners.
While some ride hailing apps have emerged in the country, it has been difficult for them to overcome the challenges of an informal market and to address the financing issues of the drivers with classical ride hailing model.
2. About Kai Senegal
Kai has been created in 2018 to solve these issues by rethinking the ride hailing model. The company is based on three pillars: 1) a fleet management solution to buy and maintain good quality vehicles, 2) a digital ride hailing app to connect customers with drivers, and 3) a financing scheme to turn taxis into an asset investment class allowing private owners and institutional investors to purchase cars as an asset and to get a regular payback with interest.
Kai wants to centralize what has been to date a very fragmented market and aims to renew the fleet of vehicles to offer private individuals as well as corporate clients a good quality transport service at a reasonable price. The ride hailing app will allow for both a more efficient pick up service and a transparent pricing, while the financial scheme will allow to increase the quality of cars and therefore the security of the passengers. Kai is convinced that human resources will be key to its growth and will continue to invest a lot in the training of its drivers, whether they are employees or partners.
The company already operates in Senegal and is planning to expand into additional countries across West Africa by the end of 2022.
3. Purpose of Investment
Through Mobility 54’s participation, Toyota Tsusho/CFAO group aims to support local innovative solutions to confront the many challenges facing public transport in West African countries such as poor quality of service, insecurity, and road congestion.
Through its innovative business model, Kai will allow the group to serve a new type of customer and to bring them all its expertise and services.
Mobility 54 will aim at leveraging its vast network in French speaking West Africa to provide Kai with good quality products as well as after sales services across the different brands of the group and the partners it has in the area. Finally, the service will also be promoted internally as it provides a turnkey solution for employee mobility.
Toyota Tsusho/CFAO group through its CVC – Mobility 54 – will continue to invest in startup partners with innovative technologies and services for Africa. The group is pursuing to help solve the social and industrial challenges in Africa by supporting expansions of innovative partners’ businesses and creating strong synergies between our group and the partners.
