GoMyWay, a ridesharing service that launched in 2015, is shutting down its operations by the end of October over lack of investible funding.
Damilola Teidi, the chief executive officer of the startup made the announcement in a mail sent to users on Wednesday morning, 27 September, 2017.
Damilola who was hired in 2015 to run the company, said the initial plan of the company’s shareholders and investors was to run a free service “for a year or two, and focus on growing the user-base.”
“Over the last two years, the team put in time and effort to growing the business and building a trusted ridesharing community. We went from less than 1,000 members in the first few months to 12,000+ members; 106,630 rides offered and rides shared across 16 states. However, it does take a lot of resources to run this business and the initial plan was no longer sustainable.
“The shareholders and investors came to a conclusion to shut down operations and close the business as there were no funds to invest further,” she wrote.
The company celebrated its two years in June during which it announced the registered members on the platform has increased by 150 percent. It also reported an average seat occupancy increase of 2.8 people per ride from what 1.8 percent in the first year.
“Looking back, it is interesting to see how much we have grown,” Teidi had said at the time. “We have seen an increasing acceptance of this concept of ridesharing by Nigerians and are more than glad to be at the forefront.”
Early investors of GoMyWay include Sim Shagaya, Konga founder and chief executive officer and Bill Paladino, former Amazon and Naspers executive.
Last, GoMyWay founder Damilola Teidi was among the start-up executives that welcomed Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg at the Co-Creation Hub (CCHub) when he visited Nigeria for the first time.
As part of measures to end the community of members, GoMyWay CEO said the company can link riders to other platforms when they fill the ‘Shuttlers Interest’ form.
“It does break our hearts to end this wonderful community and we did try to keep it going, but the team has decided to keep the platform running till the end of October. From today, the signup page will no longer be accessible and customer support would also be winding down,” Teidi said.
