Google through’s Africa Investment fund has made its investment in SafeBoda, a popular ride-hailing app. According to TechCrunch, the amount of money invested by Google is undisclosed, but it includes a $50 million Africa Investment Fund earmarked at early- and growth-stage startups on the continent.
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Since 2017 when SafeBoda launched, they are believed to have raised over $20 million. Its investors include GoVentures of Gojek, Allianz X, Transsion Holdings, Beenext, Unbound, and Justin Kan.
SafeBoda said the investment from Google’s Africa Investment Fund will help “drive its growth in Uganda and Nigeria, scaling its transportation-led app to offer new payment and financial services solutions for its expanding set of customers: passengers, drivers, and merchants.”
“SafeBoda welcomes Google to their community and are excited to continue to drive innovation in informal transportation and payments in the boda boda (East Africa) or okada (West Africa) industry,” said co-founder Ricky Rapa Thomson in a statement.
“This vital industry is the lifeblood of Africa’s cities and powers economic development. SafeBoda is thrilled that leading global companies such as Google see the importance of backing startups working towards these goals.”
The company has been battling with several issues, before this huge Google investment. Early this year, they updated their terms and conditions for their app user which rubbed them the wrong way. In July 2020, Unwanted Witness Uganda a civil society organization — a detailed report that exposed Uganda’s leading motorbike ride-sharing company SafeBoda – for sharing user’s data with 3rd-parties without their permission.
Later, the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) released a report on data protection that exonerated the company and confirmed that they did not sell any customer data. NITA-U and Unwanted Witness however made some recommendations for the company improve their privacy policies to protect Users’ rights.
