Why We Invested: Kovi
In Latin America, ride-hailing and other mobility platforms have helped hundreds of thousands of families to earn a healthy income and stay afloat in tough times. However, given the high cost of vehicle ownership and the lack of reasonably priced financing options, many lower-income drivers have difficulty accessing adequate vehicles. Moreover, drivers overall lack access to a platform that is focused exclusively on them and their financial well-being.
Enter Brazilian mobility startup Kovi. Kovi was founded to help ride-hailing and other on-demand app drivers by giving them access to fairly priced vehicle financing and providing them with tools to help maximize their income and manage their money. Given that only 20% of Brazilians own a car, we believe the market opportunity for Kovi is huge. The company is focused on increasing “take home” income for drivers by lowering vehicle costs, helping drivers to become more efficient, and providing them with additional financial services that are specifically oriented to their needs. Kovi’s solution uses technology to monitor vehicles and drivers in real-time, ensuring safety and performance in the use of cars, as well as the driver’s welfare.
Kovi’s co-founders, Adhemar Milani Neto and João Costa, have deep experience in the ride-hailing space, and the quality of the team they’ve assembled is amongst the best we’ve seen in Latin America, particularly for a company at this stage. Adhemar and João were both executives at 99, which was acquired by Didi, a major Chinese ride hailing company, and they have assembled a strong team with backgrounds in ride-hauling, car sourcing and logistics, as well as product development and technology. The team’s execution has been impressive: in less than a year, they have ramped up to more than 3,000 vehicles under management, with strong continued monthly growth. Kovi is already operating in Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre and Mexico City, and we believe the company has the capacity to execute in multiple large ride-hailing markets throughout Latin America.
We are proud to partner with Kovi. It has tremendous potential, and we believe that its focus on increasing access to vehicle financing and its commitment to improving the financial health of drivers is a great fit for our financial inclusion thesis.
More on Kovi in Crunchbase.
Quona Capital is a scale-up stage venture firm focused on fintech for inclusion in emerging markets. Quona partners have deep experience as investors and operators in both emerging and developed markets, and look for entrepreneurs whose companies have the potential to provide outstanding financial returns and promote breakthrough innovation in financial inclusion. To date, Quona has supported more than 20 financial technology companies expanding access for underserved consumers and small businesses in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Quona got its start through a strategic relationship with Accion, a global nonprofit with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. The firm has offices in Washington D.C., Bangalore, Cape Town, Mexico City and Singapore. For more information, visit quona.com.
Disclaimer: Quona portfolio companies were selected for profiles based on objective, non-performance-based criteria for the purpose of illustrating the types of investment made by Quona funds and their impacts. These profiles are being provided for illustrative purposes only, in order to provide examples of the idea generation, research, and thought process of Quona investment teams. No representation is made as to whether or if the investment ideas represented in these profiles have been or will be profitable. It should not be assumed that Quona will be able to identify similar investment opportunities in the future, or that any such opportunities will be profitable. The above statements include the opinions of the Firm and are for illustrative purposes only. There is no assurance that any trends depicted or objectives described in Quona profiles will continue or become successful.
