Kalon, Hlayisani invest in South African logistics-tech platform
Logistics-tech platform, GoMetro has secured a R16.3 million (about $1 million) seed extension round from Kalon Venture Partners, Hlayisani Capital, Tritech Global and 4Decades Capital to accelerate its growth and bolster its commercial team and rapidly expand into the South African, UK and American markets.
GoMetro is a mobility management super platform that enables public transport and logistics operators to boost operational efficiency, future proof their services and tighten their competitiveness. The solution improves the operations of hundreds of fleets around the world by providing the building blocks for the rapid development of mobility applications – getting people and goods to their destinations safely, predictably, and efficiently.
“There is a need in the logistics and freight industry to optimise routes and operations, predict arrivals more accurately and provide real-time insights across the supply chain, which legacy systems cannot provide. Utilisation of the telematics and IoT, as well as other big data is challenging the industry to make data-led decisions with the aim to improve overall margins whilst optimising overall service output,” CEO of GoMetro, Justin Coetzee explained.
“By using our mobility management platform and digitising their entire fleet, operators can save up to 30% in operating costs by increasing overall vehicle utilisation, controlling excess mileage and managing back-office costs. We have also seen our customers increase the certainty and accuracy of their delivery windows by 50%.”
Whereas fleet management systems have focused on asset management through telematics, GoMetro’s Fleet solution integrates with most major telematics providers to deliver activity management – enabling fleet co-ordination and operational visibility with capabilities that augment existing telematics investments. GoMetro’s key differentiator is that they target middle-of-the-market asset owners, a segment where large IT solution providers are not willing to fulfil due to their cost structure. A solution that is an out of the box product that can deliver end-to-end multimodal fleet operations and mobility as a service platform serving riders, drivers, operators, and planners globally – with a highly scalable and repeatable model.
“Kalon’s investment was motivated by the exceptional GoMetro team, as well as the innovative digitisation of transport operations to better manage mobility. The GoMetro Fleet works with logistics providers’ existing investment in telematics, provides accurate route planning and ontime alerts, and saves them money in back-office costs and contract performance,” said Kalon Venture Partners CEO Clive Butkow.
GoMetro will use the investment for key hires and as well as continue to invest in its innovative tech platform, product engineering and development.
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