Pan-African bus-hailing company Treepz expands to Kenya

Nigerian mobility startup Treepz (formerly Plentywaka) has launched operations in Kenya following strategic investment deals of $1.2 million over the last 12 months.

The announced expansion into the east East African country comes just over a year after it began operating in Uganda and Ghana. Treepz is now available in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya.

Since 2020, the startup has raised a total of $4.5 million from 14 investors according to Crunchbase, copped a Techstars Accelerator programme, and acquired two mobility startups, Stabus in Ghana, and Ugabus in Uganda to complete its expansion into both countries. Since its launch, the startup has completed 2.7 million trips, with 1.6 million trips completed in the last year.

With its Kenyan service now based in Nairobi and Mombasa, the company has signed up a couple of high-profile companies to provide commuting services for their employees and students, such as Twiga Foods, Abacus Schools, OAK House School, and Diamond Trust Bank with many more to come.

This latest expansion is on the back of the latest $1.2 million round raised by Treepz over the last 12 months led by GIIG Africa Fund along with MoAngels, Roselake VC, Unpopular VC, Goodwater Capital and BKR Capital. There were also follow-on investments from current investors including ShockVentures, Winston Limited, Aston Investments and Novum Actus.

Founded in 2019, by Onyeka Akumah, Johnny Ena, John Shaibu and Afolabi Oluseyi, the ride-hailing company allows users to rent buses, SUVs and trucks on its digital platform and book daily safe and convenient trips ride along fixed routes. It also launched a logistics arm in 2020 due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown at the time.