Kobo360 to expand operations in the continent’s $150bn logistics industry, secures a $30m capital

Kenneth Afor with agency report

Kobo360, Nigerian tech startup in the logistics service industry,has secured a $30 million dollar capital from an American-based investment bank, Goldman Sachs, to enable it expand its customer base and reach out to more countries in africa and beyond.

The fund was raised through a joint funding by the American investment bank and some Nigerian commercial banks. Goldman Sachs raised $20 million which is 66.67 percent of the capital while the remaining $10 million was raised by some of the banks in the country.

Kobo360, the first tech logistics company was launched in Nigeria by the duo of Obi Ozor and Ife Oyodelo which started operation in 2017 has over 10,000 drivers on its fleet via its mobile application and offering services to multinational companies like Unilever Nigeria plc, Dangote, Honeywell, DHL and Olam. The company currently operates in five African countries; Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and Kenya.

Obi Ozor, chief executive officer and co-founder hinted that the company would start operations in other African countries by the firts quarter of 2020 having in mind a global expansion.

He said, “We are definitely thinking global, we just want to make sure we close out our home markets first, then we will start looking outside.’

The company has planned to invest part of the fund capital in creating a service called Global Logistics Operating Sytem (GLOS) which tends to increase the it’s presence in logistics services in the region in the continent.

Ozor making refererence to the newly signed Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by the federal government saying it would take advantage of the pact the country has with other African countries for its services.

He said, “We are going to do some policy work through the International Finance Corporation (IFC) so we can help shape AfCTA. The key to the detail is really logistics, so if the logistics component doesn’t work out the detail isn’t going to work.”

The journey of Kobo360 started with a grant of $120,000 from Y Combinator, an American seed startup funder.