LULA, an enterprise ride sharing platform which was launched eight years ago, has announced its acquisition of Zeelo’s operations in South Africa, a move that will see this local scale up grow significantly.
The operations will transition to LULA’s tech-enabled ride-sharing solution, which enables people to be collected from their homes and taken to work and back again safely and reliably. Co-Founder and Executive Director, Xabiso Nodada, says that he – alongside CEO Velani Mboweni- started the business toconnect people in emerging cities to economic opportunities, one shared ride at a time.
“Without access to transport, you cannot access economic opportunities and without those opportunities, you cannot address poverty, unemployment and inequality. We identified the gap to transport employees to and from businesses, especially for those who work outside of normal business hours. We knew that there was a more efficient, convenient and scalable way to reduce congestion, plus provide transportation for people where public transit doesn’t,” he says.
Over the last five years, LULA has consistently maintained a year-on-year growth of between 2.5x and 4 times, this despite interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a global recession.
Zeelo launched operations in South Africa in 2018 driven by its overarching mission to connect the world to work and education through affordable, safe, and sustainable transportation. Zeelo’s exit from South Africa is part of its strategic realignment, directing its focus toward further expansion in the UK, Ireland, and North America.
“It has been a remarkable journey and we are grateful to our team, clients and suppliers for giving us the opportunity to serve them. Whilst the decision to exit the region was a challenging one, we are excited to support the transition of our customers and suppliers to the LULA platform and look forward to witnessing LULA’s future successes in tackling the transportation challenges in South Africa,“ says Sam Ryan, Founder and CEO of Zeelo Ltd.
This acquisition will mean an increase in customers, vehicles & operating partners, and staff to strengthen and scale LULA’s business in South Africa, with more opportunities into Africa as the need for this type of service grows. “Significantly, the acquisition of Zeelo‘s operations in South Africa means that LULA becomes a profitable business, with enough breathing room to scale smart, rather than scale fast,” Nodada says. He adds that since most mobility companies globally either shut down or are sold for parts should they not become profitable, this transaction means that LULA, Zeelo South Africa and their respective investors have achieved a win-win-win scenario.
With no expected impact on pricing, more services such as a charter and chauffeur/full day services, as well as shared knowledge and best practice, LULA will soon be supporting new and existing customers with improved and tailored support for their transportation needs.
