WhereIsMyTransport to take on India, Latin America after $1.85m investment

Cape Town and London-based mobility data startup WhereIsMyTransport has secured a $1.85-million investment as part of of its Series-A round in a deal led by Mexico City-based corporate venture capital fund LiiL Ventures.

Dutch impact investor Goodwell Investments also participated in the round. WhereIsMyTransport collects and provides access to public transport data, in addition to journey planning.

The company was started by Chris King and Devin de Vries in 2008 in Cape Town (pictured above, on right and centre, respectively with Dave New who joined as a founder subsequently). The company relaunched in 2015 after opening an office in London.

In a statement announcing the investment, De Vries described Liil Ventures as an investor that is experienced in the startup’s sector and a “loud advocate for our market-leading technology”.

The $1.85-million investment brings the total funding raised by WhereIsMyTransport from launch four years ago to $5.8-million

The firm claims it currently collects data from more than 30 major cities — including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban — on its open integrated mobility data platform. It said it is now expanding into India, South East Asia and Latin America, having carried out data collection on the public transport system of Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, last year.

Based on reported deals, business information platform Crunchbase estimates that — including this latest investment — WhereIsMyTransport has raised a total of $5.8-million in funding since its launch.

Ventureburn sought comment from WhereIsMyTransport on details on the investment and its expansion plans, but the firm did not wish to comment.

In March last year, following an investigation by Ventureburn, the company’s then investors said that they were happy with the progress the company was making, despite a recent round of retrenchments and negative comments by former employees on Glassdoor.com suggesting that the company was in trouble.

In addition, during a tour of the company’s Cape Town offices at the time, Ventureburn observed about 20 to 30 people at work.

This, after the company retrenched several staff members in late 2017, while former employees suggested in reviews on Glassdoor.com in January as well as December 2017 that the company was “an empty shell” and “going nowhere” after five years.

De Vries, who is the company’s CEO, did not at the time want to comment on whether the company was generating revenue or not, saying only that the company is in “an expansion stage” and that the focus had been on moving into new markets.

He said then that despite the then recent retrenchments the company was looking to hire more experienced people and that the mood was “upbeat”.

Read more: WhereIsMyTransport ‘okay’, despite retrenchments, disgruntled employees

Editor’s note (11 January 2019): This article was amended subsequent to publication to make it clear that the company was founded in 2008. The company relaunched in 2015, when it opened a London office.

Featured image (From left to right ): WhereIsMyTransport founders Chris King, Devin de Vries and Dave New (Supplied)