Energy
Moove Raises $23 Million Series A Funding to Democratize Vehicle Ownership in Africa
Moove, an African mobility fintech, today announced that it has raised $23 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by Speedinvest and Left Lane Capital, with participation from DCM, Clocktower Technology Ventures, thelatest.ventures, LocalGlobe, Tekton, FJ Labs, Palm Drive Capital, Kora Capital, KAAF Investments, Class 5 Global, and Victoria van Lennep, co-founder of Lendable. Africa specialist, Verod Kepple Africa Ventures, and one of Moove’s existing lenders, Emso Asset Management, also joined the round.
This brings Moove’s total funding to $68.2 million, including $28.2M in equity and $40.0M in debt. Moove is the first investment in Africa for many of its U.S. VC backers, underscoring the opportunity for a platform like Moove to address the continent’s vehicle financing gap.
Operating on a continent with more than a billion people who have limited or no access to vehicle financing – and the lowest per capita vehicle ownership in the world – Moove will use the funding round to build a full-service mobility fintech that democratizes vehicle ownership across Africa.
The market opportunity is vast – Africa is home to 1.3 billion people, with 43 per cent in urban areas and growing, and in 2019 had fewer than 900,000 total new vehicle sales compared to 17 million in the U.S.
Moove embeds its alternative credit-scoring technology onto ride-hailing and e-logistics platforms, which allows access to proprietary performance and revenue analytics of mobility entrepreneurs to underwrite loans. Moove’s model is to provide loans to its customers by selling them new vehicles and financing up to 95 per cent of the purchase within five days of sign up.
Moove customers can choose to pay back their loans over 24, 36, or 48 months, using a percentage of their weekly revenue. All Moove customers sign up to the Moove app to manage all transactions and access other financial products on the platform.
Co-founders Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi are British-born Nigerians, educated at the London School of Economics, Oxford University and MIT, who have successfully built three other businesses in Africa over the last eight years through their venture studio, Grace Lake Partners.
Ladi is a serial entrepreneur and Jide is a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and former management consultant at McKinsey. Driven by a common passion to create shared value leveraging their extensive operating experience on the continent, they set out to build Moove to provide Africans with a path to new vehicle ownership while creating new jobs.
“Since commencing operations in Lagos in June 2020, our customers have completed over 700,000 Uber trips in Moove financed vehicles, spanning more than 10.6 million kilometres” said Chisome Anoke, Nigeria country manager for Moove.
“This round of funding will enable us to extend our footprint to more states in Nigeria and to continue serving our customers to meet the evolving needs in urban mobility. Our vision for the future also includes a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and to increase gender equality within the industry. In doing so, we will be able to create more job opportunities, both within Moove and for our entrepreneurial customer base.”
Moove is Uber’s exclusive vehicle financing and vehicle supply partner in sub-Saharan Africa, with Moove-financed cars having completed more than 850,000 Uber trips covering over 13 million kilometers across the continent to date.
The start-up was initially bootstrapped by its co-founders with seed stage funding from Future Africa, an Africa focused fund led by Iyin Aboyeji, who was a founder at Andela and Flutterwave. The new Series A funding will allow Moove to grow and expand into new markets as well as develop and launch new products and services. The equity raise follows a year of momentum and success for Moove with the launch of three cities and 60% month-on-month growth so far.
“With Ladi and Jide at the helm of a world-class team, and their unique approach to vehicle financing, Moove has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting tech companies in Africa,” said Stefan Klestil, General Partner at Speedinvest. “The company’s expansion to three cities in under 12 months demonstrates the huge demand for vehicle financing in Africa, where just five per cent of new cars are purchased with financing, compared to 92 per cent in Europe.”
“Moove’s technology is fundamentally changing access to mobility and empowering thousands to earn a new source of income,” said Dan Ahrens, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital. “As we look ahead, the potential for that technology and the Moove team to expand even further is very exciting. They have the opportunity to become a full-service mobility fintech and expand their offerings to insurance and other financial services.”
Moove is a mission-led company that’s committed to giving 100 per cent of mobility entrepreneurs access to affordable credit and ensuring that 50 per cent of its customers are women. It also aims to ensure that at least 60 per cent of the vehicles it finances are electric or hybrid vehicles as part of its commitment to improving road safety and vehicle emissions on Africa’s roads.
Energy
NNPC, Dangote Strengthen Strategic Partnership
Bot partners reaffirmed commitment to Healthy Competition Towards National Prosperity, reports SANDRA ANI
As part of ongoing efforts to promote mutually beneficial partnerships and foster healthy competition, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) and Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals (DPRP) have pledged to deepen collaboration aimed at ensuring Nigeria’s energy security and advancing shared prosperity for Nigerians.
This commitment was made during a courtesy visit by the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, and his delegation to the Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, and members of the company’s Senior Management Team at the NNPC Towers, on Thursday.
During the visit, Dangote pledged to collaborate with the new NNPC Management to ensure energy security for Nigeria.
“There is no competition between us, we are not here to compete with NNPC Ltd. NNPC is part and parcel of our business and we are also part of NNPC. This is an era of co-operation between the two organizations.” Dangote added.
While congratulating the GCEO and the Senior Management Team on their “well-deserved appointments,” Dangote acknowledged the enormity of the responsibility ahead, noting that the GCEO is shouldering a monumental task, which he expressed confidence that, with the capable hands at his disposal in NNPC, the task is surmountable.
In his remarks, the GCEO, Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari assured Dangote of a mutually beneficial partnership anchored on healthy competition and productive collaboration.
Ojulari highlighted the exceptional caliber of talent he met in NNPC Ltd., describing the workforce as a dedicated, highly skilled and hardworking professionals who are consistently keen on delivering value for Nigeria.
Expressing the company’s readiness to build a legacy of national prosperity through innovation and shared purpose, Ojulari said NNPC will sustain its collaboration with the Dangote Group especially where there is commercial advantage for Nigeria.
Both executives also committed to being the relationship managers for their respective organisations through sustained productive collaboration and healthy competition, thereby envisioning limitless opportunities for both organizations.
Energy
AVEVA is providing data management support for renewable natural gas projects
Reporter: Godwin Ezeh
Key Highlights
● AVEVA’s industrial information infrastructure has been selected by Archaea Energy to provide key data management support
● AVEVA’s industrial software to optimize performance across Archaea’s RNG plants
AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, has been selected by Archaea Energy, the largest renewable natural gas (RNG) producer in the US, to build a comprehensive operations data management infrastructure.
Using AVEVA’s software, Archaea Energy can collect, enrich and visualize its real-time operations data, enabling performance analysis across its growing network of plants.
Using AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, a hybrid solution with cloud data services, the plants will be able to share data to highlight operational opportunities and optimize efficiency.
Caspar Herzberg, CEO, AVEVA, stated,
“Through this collaboration and the use of AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, Archaea’s growing network of plants will have streamlined operations with accurate performance analysis throughout the expansion. AVEVA’s CONNECT software platform leverages industrial intelligence from a central location, making it easier to deploy additional digital solutions in the future.”
“As the largest RNG producer in the United States, we are dedicated to delivering reliable, clean energy,” said Starlee Sykes, chief executive officer of Archaea Energy. “This relationship will allow us to optimize operations and offer detailed performance analysis as we continue to expand across the country.”
…OML 13 Asset Eyes 80,000 bpd by End of 2025
In a major boost for Nigeria’s crude oil production, revenue generation and economic growth efforts, the NNPC Ltd has officially unveiled its latest crude oil grade, the Utapate crude oil blend, before the international crude oil market.
It would be recalled that in July, 2024, NNPC Ltd and its partner, the Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) Ltd introduced the Utapate crude oil blend, following the lifting of first cargo of 950,000 barrels which headed for Spain.
During a ceremony held at the Argus European Crude Conference taking place in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday, the Managing Director, NNPC E & P Limited (NEPL), Mr. Nicholas Foucart described the introduction of the Utapate crude oil blend into the market as a significant milestone for Nigeria’s crude oil export to the global energy market.
“Since we started producing the Utapate Field in May 2024, we have rapidly ramped up production to 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) with minimum downtime. So far, we have exported five cargoes, largely to Spain and the East Coast of the United States; while two more additional cargoes have been secured for November and December 2024, representing a significant boost to Nigeria’s crude oil export to the global market,” Foucart told a packed audience of European crude oil marketers.
He added that since its introduction into the global market, the Utapate crude oil blend has enjoyed a positive response from the international crude oil market, due to its highly attractive qualities.
Foucart said the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13, fully operated by NEPL and Natural Oilfield Services Ltd (NOSL), a subsidiary of SEEPCO Ltd, boasts a huge reserves of 330million barrels of crude oil reserves, 45 million barrels of condensate and 3.5 tcf of gas.
“We have a number of ongoing projects to increase our production from the current 40,000bopd to 50,000bopd by January 2025 and 60,000bopd to 65,000bopd by June 2025. Essentially, we are targeting opportunities to increase production to 80,000bopd by the end of 2025,” Foucart added.
He said the Utapate crude oil terminal is sustainable, affordable and fully compliant with the rigorous environmental regulations and sustainability principles especially those aimed at reducing carbon emissions and other ecological effects.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of NNPC Trading Ltd (NTL), Mr. Lawal Sade said the pricing structure of the Utapate crude oil blend is similar to that of Amenam crude as it is a light sweet crude which is highly sought after by refiners across the world due to its low sulphur content, efficient yield of high-value products, API gravity and other similarities.
He said in bringing the new crude oil blend to the global market, NNPC Ltd wanted to optimise value for both its producers and counterparties across the globe.
He added to ensure predictability and sustainability of supply, the NNPC Trading intends to run a term contract on the Utapate crude oil blend cargoes, principally targeting off-takers from the European and the US East Coast refineries.
Produced from the Utapate field in OML 13 in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria, the Utapate crude oil blend is similar to the Nembe crude oil grade. It has a low sulphur content of 0.0655% and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required specification of major buyers in Europe.
The NNPC E&P Ltd and NOSL partnership is also committed to operating in a manner that is safe, environmentally responsible, and beneficial to the local communities.
The Utapate field development plan, executed between 2013-2019 and approved in October, included converting wells and facilities from swamp/marine to land-based operations.
The plan involved a multi-rig drilling campaign for 40 wells and the development of significant infrastructure such as production facilities, storage tank, a subsea pipeline and an offshore loading platform to facilitate crude oil evacuation and loading.
The entry of the Utapate crude oil blend into the market is coming barely a year after the NNPC Ltd announced the launch of Nembe crude oil, produced by the NNPC/Aiteo operated Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 Joint Venture (JV).
This remarkable achievement signals the commitment of the NNPC Ltd to increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production and growing its reserves through the development of new assets.
My CFR National Honours Award
Security Above Politics: Kogi Govt Hails Faleke
‘If You Want It Dirty, You’ll Get It Dirty’, Benue Diaspora DG Escalates Threat Against National Record Reporter
LASG Acquires New Outboard Engines For Optimum Boat Performance
Elon Musk builds Hotel in Mars, Sets to launch soon at $5million per night – Photos
