Less than one month after 'dismissing' employees, mobility startup Moove announces raising $30 million -- its 5th raise in 2022

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December 8, 2022
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2 min read
Moove's founders, Jide Odunsi and Ladi Delano

Despite a recent round of quiet staff dismissals, Moove, a Nigerian-born mobility fintech, has secured $30 million. This raise is Moove's fourth round of funding in 2022, bringing the total amount the company has raised this year to $181.8 million.

American multinational investment firm, Franklin Templeton Investments (ME) Ltd., arranged this to aid Moove's plan to build the largest EV ride-hailing fleet in the MENA region.

With the successful completion of this raise, which was a debut sukuk, Moove plans to tap into the wealth of Islamic investors who seem interested in environmentally and socially responsible projects and could open up further avenues to finance Moove's ambitious expansion plans.

Moove says it will use the funds to scale to 2,000 EVs in the UAE over the coming year, with a view to enhancing the ride-hailing passenger experience in the region. Moove estimates that this fleet of EVs will reduce over 5,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year to help cities like Dubai meet their ambitious Net Zero targets.

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As part of its launch in the UAE, Moove will be rolling out its EV charging app, Moove Charge™. Having initially launched in London in August, Moove Charge is the first end-to-end charge experience and complete EV charging network app specifically for ride-hailing drivers.

Moove’s entry into UAE follows a year of significant funding, growth and expansion for the firm, and a controversial round of layoffs.

The company recently let go of some staff across its major market. Internal sources said these were layoffs done to save costs, while the company maintained that the dismissals were done for performance and gross misconduct.

Interestingly, Moove raised $10 million in February 2022, $105 million in March, $20 million in July, $16.8 million in October, before its latest $30 million round. With a total round of $181.8 million, Moove has secured the second highest funding round for an African startup in 2022, only behind Flutterwave's mega $250 million round.

Moove launched in Europe for the first time in August when it launched a 100% EV rent-to-buy model in London. The company also launched in India and will launch 5,000 CNG and EVs across Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in its first year to help create sustainable work opportunities in the developing economy.

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Over the past two years, Moove claims its customers have completed over 11 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles, a feat, it claims, has been aided by its alternative credit scoring technology.

Though Moove initially collected a 5% deposit before giving out cars, it later told Techpoint that no longer requires a deposit or a traditional credit score stating that - "harnesses future productivity rather than traditional credit scoring to enable access to financial services".

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Journalist feasting on tech, business, and policies. Looking to chat? Catch up with me, @eruskkii, on Twitter or send a mail to [email protected]
Journalist feasting on tech, business, and policies. Looking to chat? Catch up with me, @eruskkii, on Twitter or send a mail to [email protected]

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