Dubai-based ride-sharing company Swvl is planning to go public after a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital. The new company, Swvl Holding, is expected to be valued at roughly $1.5 billion.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, the combined public company will be listed on NASDAQ.
Co-founded by Mostafa Kandil in 2017 when he was just 24 years old, Swvl is transforming the $1 trillion global mass transit market. The company’s proprietary mobility solutions, powered by cutting-edge technology, are helping to solve mass transit supply and demand challenges in unchartered, emerging markets – empowering under-served communities with transportation solutions that are reliable, convenient, safe, and affordable.
Featuring diversified transit offerings that, in just a few short years, have evolved from daily commuting to inter-city retail travel, to Transport as a Service (TaaS) offerings for businesses, schools, universities and other critical service organisations, Swvl is poised to take the next step in its evolution.
Kandil, Swvl Founder and CEO, said: “Mass transit systems in cities around the world are riddled with deficiencies, resulting in congestion, environmental concerns and reduced productivity. In certain emerging market cities, commuter round-trip wait times are often greater than 40 minutes and, in one major city, upwards of 80% of women reported that they have experienced harassment on public transport.
“Even in developed markets, the societal cost imposed by a lack of mass transit solutions can be staggering. In the United States, for instance, the annual cost of traffic is estimated to be $88 billion, and in many parts of the world current alternatives to mass transit are prohibitively expensive. To address these problems, we founded Swvl with a simple but ambitious goal – to empower all people to go where they want to, when they want to, and to feel comfortable doing it.”
In just four years, Swvl has become the industry leader in mass-transit across 10 cities in Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Its gross revenues and markets have grown rapidly, with more than 1.4 million riders booking more than 46 million rides to date with thousands of drivers on Swvl’s platform.
It has established user base has a track record of loyalty, with more than 20% of inter-city riders opting to use multiple platform offerings. It also empowers drivers in emerging markets – who frequently experience income uncertainty from existing mass transit operations – to earn approximately double that of other ride-sharing platforms.
With its TaaS offerings, Swvl has already enabled more than 100 organizations around the world to reduce costs through dynamic routing, network planning, demand estimation, fleet optimisation, and other leading transit services.
The combined company will draw upon Queen’s Gambit’s distinguished team of highly successful women.
Agility, a global supply chain leader operating in many of Swvl’s key markets, has made a significant capital commitment in Queen’s Gambit and the combined company. In addition, Zain, a leading mobile voice and data services operator with nearly 50 million active customers across many of Swvl’s current markets, has also invested in the combined company.
Victoria Grace, Queen’s Gambit Founder & Chief Executive Officer, said: “At Queen’s Gambit, we identify and then grow a disruptive platform that solves complex challenges and empowers under-served populations. In Swvl, we have found each of those things and more.
“Having established a leadership position in key emerging markets, we believe Swvl is ready to capitalise on a truly global market opportunity. We look forward to working with their team to create significant and sustained value for investors and all stakeholders alike. We will bring to bear the collective financial and operational expertise of the Queen’s Gambit platform, for the benefit of Swvl and the communities that it serves.”
