Algerian Ride-Hailing App Scores $150,000 Investment from the Accelerator Behind Airbnb

Y Combinator, the American seed accelerator that’s launched a host of startup success stories - including Airbnb, Doordash and Dropbox among its 2,000+ startup portfolio - has just placed its bets on Algerian ride-hailing app, Yassir.

The first ride-hailing app in Algeria is also the nation’s first to receive the backing of Y Combinator, graduating from their Winter 2020 batch earlier this week and raising a $150,000 investment in the process.

Founded in 2016, Yassir currently operates in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as offering food delivery services in Algeria. With this new investment, it plans to expand on gargantuan levels, becoming french-speaking Africa’s next super-app.

In doing so, Yassir will be capitalising on two connected trends. On one hand, growing smartphone penetration offers an ever-expanding market for its ride-hailing services. On the other, its plan to provide payments and mobile banking solutions jumps into the quickly metastasising digital finance market, with its mobile banking-fuelled potential for massive financial inclusion.