Here are the faces behind funded mobility startups

From the newsletter 

Two former SafeBoda senior executives who teamed up to form Kenyan used car marketplace Peach Cars positioned their startup to raise $11 million in a Series A funding round in June 2025. Zachary John-Pillow Petroni, the COO, and Kaoru Kaganoi, the CEO, teamed up in 2020 to establish the platform. The duo previously steered the firm to raise $5 million in June 2023. 

• Before co-founding Peach Cars, Mr Kaoru had stints at consulting firm McKinsey, the UN and SafeBoda, while Mr Petroni previously worked at Komaza, Jawabu Business Consultants, The Shamba Project, SafeBoda and Kennedy Care. 

• During the month, five startups raised a total of $27.8 million. Two of the startups have two co-founders, while the rest have a single founder each. Three of them are first-time founders, while three are experienced startup founders. 

More details

• Electric Transits Africa (ETA), a firm that provides EVs and chargers for tourism, raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round in June under the stewardship of Wout van Blommestein and Dennis Kant. The duo, who both went to university in the Netherlands, founded the company this year. Mr Kant, who has a degree in philosophy, held various roles in finance and investments before co-founding ETA. Mr Blommestein has an economics degree and has previously held various investment roles. 

• Serial entrepreneur Luke Henwood, the founder and CEO of South African car subscription startup FutureRent, steered the company to raise $5.7 million funding in a venture round in June. Mr Henwood, who has a background in information technology, previously founded Smerno, a technology services company, and Capion, a platform giving salaried workers early access to their wages. 

• Nowlun’s co-founders Moataz Khamis (CEO), Mahmoud Khaled (CTO), and Ahmed Emara (COO) helped the Egypt-based online freight forwarding startup raise $600,000 in June. Mr Khamis has more than 19 years of experience in the logistics sector, while Mr Khaled, a computer scientist, also has more than 19 years of experience as a software engineer. Meanwhile, Mr Emara has 15 years of experience in logistics and trade. 

• Overall, our analysis shows that the majority of founders whose startups raised funding in June gathered immense experience in their sectors before founding their companies. This is key as this experience allows them to leverage their existing knowledge, identify opportunities, and navigate challenges more effectively. This translates into a stronger business plan, better decision-making, and increased chances of success.  

• Our analysis further shows that the professional backgrounds of the leading fundraisers in June is wide, ranging from finance, economics, logistics, trade, and information technology. Further, while some of the startups we have featured have single founders, others have co-founders with different skillsets. This mix of skills and talents is key for success in Africa’s increasingly competitive mobility startup ecosystem.  

Our take

• The success of co-founding teams like Peach Cars and ETA shows that diverse skills fuel startup success. Accelerators, universities, and VCs should facilitate structured networking or founder-matching programs to build balanced, high-impact teams. 

• Investors and support organizations should continue to prioritize or mentor founders with deep industry knowledge, especially in logistics, mobility, and finance—fields where navigating regulation and complexity is essential to scaling.

• The $27.8 million raised in June shows that more local and international investors should direct capital to overlooked niches like EV tourism or digital freight logistics, especially in countries like Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa where infrastructure and demand are rising.