Easy Taxi, a Brazil-based taxi booking app, has raised a further $10m series B funding from Africa Internet Holding, a joint venture (JV) between Rocket Internet, the Germany-based incubator behind Easy Taxi, and Millicom, the telecoms and digital lifestyle company focused on emerging markets, principally through its Tigo brand in Latin America and Africa. Millicom owns 35% of the new JV.
The funding will be used to launch Easy Taxi in Africa, starting out in Nigeria, where Rocket Internet has already established its e-commerce shopping business Jumia.
The funding follows a series B $15m funding raised by Easy Taxi in June from Latin America Internet Holding, a similar joint venture between Rocket Internet and Millicom, for the purpose of expanding Easy Taxi in Latin America. Previously, Easy Taxi raised $5m in series A funding in 2012. The company was founded by Tallis Gomes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2011.
Dennis Wang, head of international expansion of Easy Taxi, said: “We want to bring this success to other attractive markets and we see high potential in many Asian and African countries.”
Sacha Poignonnec, co-chief executive officer of Africa Internet Holdings, has described Nigeria as a challenging market, “but once you have cracked it, you will crack all of Africa.”