Dubai unicorn Swvl expands interests into Latin America with acquisition of Viapool

Swvl, the Dubai-based mass transit and shared mobility services provider, acquired a controlling interest in Argentina’s Viapool in a deal expected to help its expansion within Latin America.

The acquisition will grant the Dubai company access to Argentina and Chile markets, and will serve as an entry point to Brazil and Mexico. However, the terms of the deal, expected to take place in 2022, were not disclosed.

The Viapool deal is Swvl’s second acquisition since it announced plans to list on the Nasdaq through a merger with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, a blank cheque company.

In August, it agreed to buy Shotl, a Barcelona bus and van service that is also in Brazil.

“Latin America represents a compelling opportunity for Swvl to continue its global expansion, all the while capitalising on unmet commuting needs for hundreds of millions living within urban megacities,” Mostafa Kandil, founder and chief executive of Swvl, said yesterday.

“Viapool shares our vision of transforming public transport by making daily commuting more accessible, convenient and sustainable and has demonstrated impressive growth, unit economics and customer traction.

“By adding Viapool to the Swvl platform, we will be ideally positioned to scale [up] our operations to additional cities within the region.”

Swvl, which started in Cairo, began with a $500,000 seed round in 2017. It raised $8 million the following year.

In 2019, the start-up raised $42m in a series C round from veteran venture capital companies such as Dubai’s Beco Capital, Endeavour Catalyst of the US, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures and Michael Lahyani, chief executive of UAE real estate portal Property Finder, among others.

In August, it raised $35.5m in growth financing, with investors, including Kuwait’s Agility and Chimera Abu Dhabi, funding a portion of a $100m private investment in the deal.

The Swvl-Queen’s Gambit merger would make it the second Arab company to list on the Nasdaq, but the first with a $1.5bn valuation and the only technology enabled mass transit solutions company to list on any exchange. The listing is expected to happen this quarter.