BuuPass wins the Bosch Africa Smart Mobility Start-up competition 2019

Buupass wins the Bosch Africa Smart Mobility Start-up competition 2019

Seems like we are off to a great end of this year as more of our members and alumni scoop awards and secure funding.

Congratulations to our member BuuPass for winning the Bosch Africa Smart Mobility Start-up competition 2019.

BuuPass won $15,000 each and a three-month acceleration program. During the same session, Hello Tractor, also won the competition, securing $15000 and a three-month acceleration program as well.

BuuPass is an online marketplace for bus, shuttle, and train bookings that allows travellers in the country to book and purchase bus tickets.

The service is currently available with five bus operators including Easy Coach, Modern Coast, Greenline, Palmers and East African Shuttles, and looks to onboard more than 20 additional operators by the end of the year.

In May, the company partnered with Safaricom to help Buupass customers book their tickets through MPESA. The company has also similarly partnered on the online booking platform for the Standard Gauge Railway and a number of local flights.

The service seeks a slice of the local inter-city transport industry estimated to be worth more than Sh100 billion annually but which is also characterized by low uptake of technology and digital solutions. The two firms have been working on the bus ticketing solution for more than a year and have already sold more than 80,000 tickets across more than 100 routes.

On the other hand,  Hello Tractor is a Nigerian owned startup that connects tractor owners and farmers bringing profits and productivity to African small-hold farming communities

The  Bosch Africa Smart Mobility Startup Competition was recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa. In total 11 startups selected from 222 applications from all over Africa, pitched their innovative smart mobility ideas at the Bosch Demo Day 2019. The startups are:

• Hello Tractor,
• BuuPass
• ParkCrowdy
• Moja Ride
• Naviacom
• Mobility
• Hovo
• Dronamics
• Bonang.ai
• Bwala
• Motilix

Bosch and Founders Factory Africa opened the application of the competition in August and sought early-to-growth stage start-ups that have the potential to scale and deliver innovative Smart Mobility solutions across the specified themes, including connectivity and IoT solutions, vehicle renting and ride-sharing, city infrastructure, logistics and distribution, clean energy and electric vehicles, and insurance and data tracking systems.

Congratulations to Buupass once again who grew from our shared co-working spaces in Nairobi. We are really proud of their work and glad to see them growing and gaining.