(PEHub) Táximo, a portfolio company of Polymath Ventures, has raised $4.6 million in funding. The investors were unnamed. Based in Colombia, Táximo is an operator of taxis.

PRESS RELEASE

Táximo (www.taximo.co) just closed a 4.6 million round of investment, of which the main part is going to buy 80 taxis in Colombia, and the rest will be used to continue expanding the operation regionally. Táximos CEO and co-founder Antoine Dumit is excited: “With the closing of the taxi fund, we kick-start an institutional investment channel to supplement our existing growth in Colombia, and the equity will help us to consolidate the operation in Colombia and expand to Peru”. Táximo currently has a fleet of 1000 taxis operating throughout major Colombian cities and a net revenue run-rate of over 10 million.

Táximo previously closed Series Seed and Series A rounds from Colombian and international investors.

In a market where most innovation comes through the development of apps, Táximo chooses to innovate offline. The Latin American taxi market is very fragmented. There are hardly any large taxi companies, while middles class families own most taxis. They have invested their life savings in one or two taxis. Because there is usually more demand than supply for taxis, taxi owners do not invest in efficient operations or user experience. Taxis are often in poor maintenance, drivers do not get any education on customer service, and driver churn is as high as 60% per month.

Táximo offers taxi owners and investors to fully operate their taxis, guaranteeing them a fixed monthly return. This frees taxi owners of the risk and hassle, while Táximo manages to reach economies of scale, and is able to invest in maintaining a professional fleet of cars and drivers. In this way, Táximo is able to offer a great experience in a yellow cab to the middle class, who continue to rely on taxis as their public transport mechanism and are not able to use services like Uber because of their limited access to credit cards.

Táximo was created through Polymath Ventures (www.polymathv.com), which builds companies to serve the emerging middle class to scale massively across Latin America.

Dumit adds: “Polymath did a great job at discovering the hidden potential in the taxi market. For Táximo it has been great to be a Polymath portfolio company, both in terms of finding the right talent for the business as for getting help developing the best growth strategy and access to the international and Colombian investor community.”