West African startup, Gozem has acquired Togo’s food delivery app, Delivroum
On the road to
super app dreams
“We didn’t come in saying we are a super app.“ – Emeka Ajene, CEO, Gozem
Gozem launched in 2018 as a ride-hailing business in Togo and Benin and in two years, it has a presence in two cities across both countries.
While the company started out focusing on transportation as a base of sorts, it had its eyes on becoming a super app.
Gozem’s approach
In September, Alex wrote about Gozem’s super app ambitions and an excerpt from his article helps us understand the company’s plan.
“With its motorcycle taxis (zems), cars and tuk tuks (motorised tricycles), they have built a fleet that is now deployed in cargo delivery, and ecommerce.”
“In the seven cities where they operate, groceries, cooking gas, and electronics vendors are being onboarded.”
“They are onboarding cigar shops in Lomé, the Togolese capital popular among European expats seeking vacation in West Africa.”
“To ensure its app is a platform instead of a mere aggregator of services, Gozem has its payments wallet integrated with mobile money. With that, users remain on the app for the entire transaction process rather than being transferred to third party sites.”
Delivroum is another infinity stone for Gozem’s gauntlet
Gozem will now add Delivroum, Togo’s first food delivery platform to its existing
list of service offerings. Despite the fact that Delivroum was set up in 2019, it gained enough traction to be noticed and acquired by Gozem.
The Delivroum team will join Gozem’s delivery department, and eventually, Delivroum’s operations and brand will be integrated into a new, standalone Gozem Food vertical.
Go deeper: Why Gozem’s super app experiment depends on transportation