Swvl Holdings Corp. has secured a definitive deal to acquire shared mobility platform, Urbvan Mobility Ltd ("Urbvan"), based in Mexico, a press release reported.
"Swvl and Urbvan share a vision to remodel mass transit to be safer for everyone, no matter their gender or social class, in the most challenging and densely populated urban neighborhoods in Latin America,” Renato Picard, Urbvan co-founder and co-CEO, said. “We are excited to partner with Swvl as we work to illustrate best-practices for tech-optimized day to day travel in Mexico. This transaction positions Urbvan to leverage Swvl's global offerings to scale the platform both within the region and beyond. We look forward to using our combined capabilities to provide safe, efficient and affordable shared mobility options across the world."
The idea for the acquisition derived as the company continues seeking global growth opportunities. Specifically, it identified Latin America’s potential to house an efficient transportation system in Latin America.
"The acquisition of Urbvan contributes toward all the key objectives of our recently announced portfolio optimization plan: Opportunity to enhance margins, turn cash flow positive in 2023, focus on high profitability segments TaaS and SaaS, expand in higher ticket fare markets and extract more value from our proprietary technology stack,” Youssef Salem, Swvl CFO, said. “Today's announcement reinforces Swvl's commitment to back regional champions in the mobility space. Looking ahead, we plan to continue to pursue accretive strategic initiatives to continue expanding best-in-class tech-enabled mass transit solutions in the most challenging markets across the world, where we believe our system can make the greatest difference to people's daily lives."
Founded in 2016, Urbvan aims to utilize shared mobility as a tool to improve the quality of individual lives. Since its establishment, the company has expanded its reach to 18 cities in Mexico, offering urban routes, intercity routes, for private organizations and for private on-duty demands.
"Urbvan was founded on the same principals as Swvl: To address the inefficiencies found in traditional mass transit in many parts of the world,” Mostafa Kandil, Swvl founder and CEO, said. “With a significant footprint in Mexico, an impressive suite of Transport as a Service (TaaS) offerings and strong relationships with local government players, this acquisition reinforces Swvl's position as a leading provider of safer and more reliable mobility solutions which are required for vulnerable people living in densely populated, challenging markets with vast geographies."