Naspers is participating in a R201-million funding round involving Cape Town-founded start-up WhereIsMyTransport, along with fellow investors Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund and SBI Investment.

Naspers Foundry stumped up about R42-million of the funding round in the company, which maps formal and informal public transport networks and uses this data and technology to improve the public transport experience.

The company licenses these “mobility datasets” to governments, development finance institutions, nongovernmental organisations, operators and third-party solution developers for the purpose of research, analytics and insights, and developing consumer and enterprise solutions.

Its aim is to develop solutions that provide commuters in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America with real-time public transport network alerts, to improve their mobility and reduce the time they spend commuting.

Its South African clients have included the Gautrain and Transport for Cape Town. International clients include Google and the World Bank.

WhereIsMyTransport launched its first consumer product, Rumbo, in Latin America recently. “Rumbo is the first to provide network information from all modes of public transport in this market and has over 100 000 users and delivered over 750 000 real-time network alerts since its launch in Mexico City in November 2020. The app will be launched in Lima, Peru later this year,” Naspers said. — © 2021 NewsCentral Media