Swvl, a Dubai-based global transit startup, is expected to be the Middle East’s first $1.5 billion valued unicorn to list on the Nasdaq through a special purpose acquisition company Queens’s Gambit Growth Capital, the first SPAC led entirely by women.
The Cairo-based company, which provides mass transit and shared mobility services for those who cannot afford or access private options was founded by Mr. Mostafa Kandil in 2017.
The company is uniquely positioned to capitalize on a $1 trillion global market opportunity as a leading provider of tech-enabled mass transit across ten major cities including Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, having built a green-focused mass transport system that offers intercity, intracity, B2B and business-to-government transportation.
Mostafa Kandil Co-Founder & CEO Swvl
“We have succeeded in executing our business plan in some of the most challenging emerging markets, where inefficiencies in infrastructure and related mass-transit systems represent a universal problem and have now reached a critical inflection point where we are ready to share our expertise and technology with the rest of the world.”
The merged public company will be named Swvl Holdings Corporation and is expected to list under the ticker symbol SWVL. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Over 1.4 million riders have booked over 46 million rides with thousands of drivers on Swvl’s platform. Swvl said it made about $26 million in sales last year and expects to receive $79 million this year.
Swvl’s established user base has a proven track record of loyalty, with more than 20 percent of inter-city riders opting to use multiple platforms. Also, the company enables drivers in emerging economies who frequently face economic insecurity as a result of current mass transit systems, to earn approximately twice as much as other ride-sharing platforms.
Swvl’s Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS) offerings have already helped over 100 enterprises around the world save money by providing dynamic routing, network planning, demand estimation, fleet optimization, and other cutting-edge transit services.
Queen’s Gambit, a blank check company was formed earlier this year by a team of female executives and is led by Victoria Grace, the founder of New York-based venture capital fund Colle Capital.
“When forming Queen’s Gambit, I was squarely focused on assembling a team of highly successful and strategically-minded women with unparalleled global relationships, to identify and then grow a disruptive platform that solves complex challenges and empowers underserved populations. In Swvl, we have found each of those things and more,” said Ms. Grace, Queen’s Gambit founder and chief executive.
Agility, Luxor Capital, and Zain Group are among the joint venture’s other major investors, with the latter investing $100 million through a Private Investment in a Public Entity (PIPE).
