Yango Ventures backs Gigmile to expand delivery financing across Africa

Yango Group has deepened its presence in Africa with an undisclosed investment in Gigmile, a platform that helps gig workers access vehicles and digital tools for last-mile delivery. The deal, made through Yango Group’s venture arm, Yango Ventures, extends the Dubai-based tech company’s effort to fund startups that strengthen transport infrastructure in emerging markets.

For Gigmile, the partnership brings capital and operational support to scale its lease-to-own vehicle model across more African cities. The startup enables riders and drivers to finance motorcycles and cars, manage repayments, and track earnings through its software suite. It has financed over 10,000 vehicles and raised about $21 million in combined equity and debt.

No investment figure was disclosed, though it is linked to the Yango Ventures’ $20 million fund launched in March to back early-stage companies Africa, LATAM, and MENAP. Gigmile joins that portfolio as Yango’s clearest bet yet on logistics and gig-worker financing, a sector closely tied to its own ride-hailing and delivery operations.

“Gigmile is working on a problem we understand deeply: how to build delivery systems that work for businesses and for the couriers who keep them running,” said Daniil Shuleyko, CEO of Yango Group. “Our experience in urban logistics gives us a strong foundation to help them scale responsibly and efficiently.”

The move aligns with a pattern Yango has been establishing through 2025: building both the technology and financial rails around mobility. In September, the company launched Yango Motors in Côte d’Ivoire to sell and finance vehicles through local banks and leasing partners. The earlier launch of Yango Ventures in March 2025 created a financing channel for startups shaping Africa’s fintech, mobility, and logistics technology sectors. Gigmile sits neatly between both worlds: the software startup that fuels the hardware Yango already supplies.

Together, these moves outline a clear playbook—fund the software, provide the hardware, and link both through payments and data infrastructure. Yango isn’t only chasing ride-hailing market share; it’s building the connective tissue of an entire mobility ecosystem that stretches from drivers to delivery networks to the financial systems behind them.

That logic mirrors how major tech firms now blend venture capital with operational integration. Google’s Africa Investment Fund and Mastercard’s Start Path program have followed similar models, pairing funding with ecosystem alignment. Yango’s approach takes that blueprint and localises it, tying capital directly to logistics and transport assets on the ground.

The timing is strategic. Africa’s delivery and e-commerce sectors are expanding as smartphone adoption rises. Nigeria had 107 million internet users in early 2025, and its food-delivery market, worth $1.04 billion in 2024, could hit $2.49 billion by 2033, according to IMARC Group. Platforms like Gigmile are unlocking that growth by giving gig workers access to assets they otherwise couldn’t afford.