African App Gozem Grabs $5M To Expand And Offer More Services

Gozem, a super app that provides a host of services — including transport, e-commerce, and financial services in Francophone Africa — has raised $5 million in Series A financing.

The firm is present across 13 cities, having moved to Gabon and Cameroon with over 800,000 registered users and more than 5 million trips completed.

The company, which is based in Togo and Singapore, raised funds from AAIC, Thunes (TransferTo), Momentum Ventures (SMRT), Innoport Ventures (Schulte Group), CMC Ventures (National Express), and Liil Ventures (Mobility ADO).

Costamagna, in a statement, said the funding will help Gozem increase the figure to over 200,000 before 2025.

The firm was founded by Gregory Costamagna, Raphael Dana and Emeka Ajene and kicked off operations in Togo in 2018 as a motorcycle ride-hailing service.

During the pandemic – it introduced e-commerce and logistics plays, allowing merchants to list an inventory of products users want and get them delivered through its drivers.

It then launched an asset financing option for its drivers, employing a lease-to-own model for vehicles and associated equipment.

“So people [merchants, suppliers, companies] that find a lot of interest working with them [riders], will then work hard and provide a lot of different services to our customer base,” Costamagna told TechCrunch.

“And when we do this, we increase their disposable income by sending them more passengers, more delivery trips by adding more merchants on our platform and finding companies that want to use delivery services. We also reduce their cost of operation through asset financing because they have no formal alternative and it’s generally informal and expensive,” he added.