Kenya ride-hailing firm Little has big plans for Africa expansion
Company in talks with investors to raise $50m more
Nairobi — Kenyan ride-hailing company Little will expand to Tanzania and Ghana by May and plans to raise about $50m more from investors, CEO Kamal Budhabhatti says. Little, which competes with global players Uber and Taxify in Kenya, is valued at between $70m to $75m, Budhabhatti said, a minnow compared to rivals but it has aims to expand across Africa. The company will offer rides in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam from next week and plans to launch in Accra by May, Budhabhatti said, adding to operations in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. Little was talking to investors to raise about $50m in series A funding, the financing received when a start-up opens up to outside investors for the first time. It aims to finalise this by mid-2019, Budhabhatti said. "We are meeting a couple of investors, both on the continent and in Silicon Valley. The interest is there," he said, adding that new funds would be used to develop technology and to expand to more countries. He did not name the...
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