On May 4th, Treepz, the African mobility company, announced that they were pivoting from mass transportation and pivoting to a new model: a car-sharing marketplace.
The company, which started out as providing mass transportation to commuters, stated that its new platform would allow people to rent a car only when they need it and for flexible rental periods.
So what happened to its old mission
According to a blog post from Treepz, it basically came down to economics. The company stated that the public transportation industry is highly price-sensitive and would require longer-term investments for sustainable success.
Treepz was spending $1.50 for every $1 earned which was resulting in a negative gross margin.
Pivoting to car sharing was a no-brainer for the company because the margins for the company were better.
Over the years, Treepz was pushing for interesting concepts and projects with mass transport.
In 2021, the company announced a partnership with the HM Evolution Services Ltd to pilot mass transportation solutions in Accra.
Last year, it launched its Business service plan for local businesses and was also looking at piloting its Electric Bus service.
With the pivot to car sharing, we can expect those projects to be on lifeline with a plan to sunset them (if it hasn’t already done that already)
Currently, the company has fully pivoted into a car-sharing platform, offering its app on both web, iOS and Android.
By getting out of mass transportation, Treepz doesn’t have to worry about its inventory or the maintenance cost of its buses and instead, it can focus on building out its platform and listing cars for rent.
The jury is still out on if this can be a successful venture. Treepz will contend with other competitors such as DMM in some marketplaces.
It’s likely that the company will either lease out its buses or sell them outright.
