Kenya's BuuPass eyes expansion to eight new African markets by 2025

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALMay 21, 2024 at 5:46 PM UTC

TLDR

Kenyan startup BuuPass expands to 8 new markets by 2025 after acquiring QuickBus, enhancing mobility operations in Africa.
BuuPass offers a digital platform for intercity bus travel, enabling users to search, compare, and book tickets easily.
The startup, supported by Google for Startups and Daba, has sold over 16 million tickets and reached a total sales value of $100 million.

Kenyan startup BuuPass, a mobility marketplace platform that digitizes intercity bus and transportation operations in Africa, aims to expand its presence to eight additional markets, bringing its total to 12 by 2025.

This follows its recent acquisition of QuickBus, a counterpart in the transportation sector. Founded in 2016, BuuPass enables users to search, compare, and book travel tickets via the web, app, or USSD, while its SaaS platform helps bus operators manage their operations, inventory, and sales.

The startup has sold over 16 million travel tickets and generated over $100 million in total value of goods sold. BuuPass has also participated in the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa and received support from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, Tim Draper, and Daba.

Key Takeaways

BuuPass raised $1.3 million pre-seed in February 2023, and last month acquired QuickPass, a fellow Kenyan bus ticketing venture. Launched in 2019, QuickBus aggregates long-distance bus tickets in a marketplace, making it easier for users to compare prices and book journeys, and helping bus companies run their businesses more efficiently. The acquisition of QuickBus means BuuPass is now live in South Africa and Nigeria, in addition to Kenya and Uganda, but that is just the start of the story as far as African expansion goes.

BuuPass

QuickBus

Tim Draper

Daba

Venture Capital

Startups

Google for Startups Accelerator Africa

Google for Startups Black Founders Fund

Venture Funding