This start-up digitises SA’s notorious minibus taxi industry

A South African mobility tech start-up with a mission to digitise the country’s notorious minibus taxi industry has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from leading angel investors. This, says Loop founder Imtiyaaz Riley, enables the business to roll out geolocation technology and digital payments.

Founded in 2021 by Riley and Jamie Wyngaard, Loop provides both commuters and drivers with a platform to interact, facilitate payments, plan, monitor trips, and soon even insure belongings while commuting.

According to estimates by Transaction Capital, the South African taxi industry generates about R50 billion per year. About 69% of the country’s households use minibus taxi’s for their daily commute.

The Loop concept originated from his personal experiences, says Riley, a former resident of Manenberg on the Cape Flats. For many generations, his family has been closely linked to taxi associations in the Western Cape.

“Having grown up around the industry, I have been exposed to the daily problems faced by drivers, commuters, operators, and associations from a young age. After years of dreaming about addressing these challenges, I now have a solid team around me to do just that,” he says.

While Riley is inspired by solving real-life problems through technology, Wyngaard thrives on helping customers solve their problems by leveraging the utility of design thinking. This helps him to be results-oriented, future-focused, and to build a teams that are able to quickly adapt to new insights.

A strategic planner with a background in biotechnology, media and fintech, Wyngaard also has executive experience which is of great value to Loop. This includes a stint as chief community officer for Bettr, a Cape Town-based fintech start-up, as well as a digital-only bank.

The University of the Western Cape alumnus describes himself as a thought leader in design thinking and believes in the development of enhanced agile business validation techniques to achieve success. “I constantly improve, refine and drive myself to be better and believe in networking and being customer-centric. This has proven successful in my work with Feenix, The National Vice President of Golden Key International Honours Society, Teen Entrepreneur, and my other professional work.”

Currently, Wyngaard is featured on Being the Business, his own DStv television show aimed at helping entrepreneurs improve their businesses. He says he created the show for success-driven business people to apply for free support.

In a recent interview with UWC, Wyngaard reminisced about his childhood days on the gang-ridden Cape Flats. “My mom was a housewife, and losing our comforts after my father passed taught me to start being creative and forced me to find ways to secure the lifestyle we were used to,” he said.

Highlighting some of Loop’s upcoming developments, Riley confirms the soft launch of a new WhatsApp service to help daily minibus taxi commuters to find their taxis, and drivers to find their passengers more efficiently. This is being done in tandem with taxi associations in the Cape Town city bowl, with an initial roll-out plan for 2 500 onboarded taxis.

Also, a group ride-sharing add-on service is being added.

“Loop provides an app-based platform for members of the public to book minibus taxis as shuttle services for once-off trips. The service is used by corporates who transport staff; events companies who transport staff & attendees; and other groups of citizens who have to travel together for any experience. This is an added revenue stream for minibus taxi drivers.” says Riley.

“We’re excited to be coordinating this all with the help of Innovation City, an exceptional community and incubator which has opened a lot of doors for our young start-up.”

Though the journey hasn’t always been smooth sailing, Loop has had a number of allies who continue to play an instrumental role in its success.

“We have been extremely lucky with the partners we have on board who are actively helping us shift the minibus taxi industry. This includes Jack Studios, Innovation City, Rlabs, Zlto, the Western Cape Taxi Associations; and the SMU Cox School of Business in Texas, USA.”

Start-up funding remains challenging, admits Riley. “While support of early-stage start-ups in South Africa is improving, it is nowhere near the levels of foreign ecosystems. Access to venture capital funding is challenging until the business has notable revenue, and government incentivisation is limited.”

Of course, merely working in South Africa’s minibus taxi industry is challenging. Government is currently in talks to regulate the industry marred by lawlessness, violence, labour challenges, allegations of exploitation of workers and compliance with tax laws.

“We are attempting to revolutionise an industry, and this requires resources,” says Riley.

“We have a superb tech and operational team. However, to gather awareness and reach the heights we aim to reach we’re looking for like-minded investors, mentors and advisors to lend a hand. Loop is trying to make a positive shift in our society, and welcome people who believe they can add value to reach out.”

Riley describes the minibus taxi industry as the backbone of the South African public transport sector. He acknowledges, though, that for most commuters the daily commute is still “very informal and archaic.”

“Getting to and from work is not straightforward. Planning a trip is not a reality and often commuters find themselves waiting for a taxi for 20 or 30 minutes. Conversely, taxi drivers struggle to find enough passengers to meet their daily quotas, and rely on sliding door operators, to call out and find their passengers,” he explains.

“In addition, we are working on implementing commuter insurance for our passengers. Unfortunately, moving around via taxi has innate dangers. Passengers deserve to protect themselves and their property while taking these rides.

“Taxis are not going away anytime soon and, in fact, the industry continues to grow, and the daily experience of the relevant stakeholders in the space needs to be improved. Loop is on a mission to address this.”

Meanwhile, Loop has recently won the MEEK Africa Start-up of the Year prize for Innovation, and was selected to exhibit and pitch at the Smarter Mobility Africa Summit 2022 in Johannesburg.

Gillion Bosman, a councillor in the City of Cape Town, says Loop’s achievement underscores the status of the Mother City as a growing African tech hub. “The achievement of Loop just once again proves that South Africa, in general, and the Western Cape in particular, has no shortage of talent and innovative individuals that only need the opportunity to develop and use these talents.”

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