SWVL to Expand into Argentina & Chile After Latest Acquisition Deal

SWVL’s remarkable 2021 continues with the news that it will imminently expand into Argentina and Chile on the back of an acquisition deal that will see it assume a controlling interest in Latin American transit platform, Viapool.

The Egyptian-born, Dubai-based company has already secured a presence in South America via Brazil, after its acquisition of another mass transit platform, Shotl, earlier this year. The news comes after SWVL went public through a merger with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) based in the US, which valued the company at a whopping $1.5 billion.

It's estimated that the acquisition will add more than $5 million in annualised revenues for SWVL, with Viapool operating 130 vehicles across 175 routes. There’s a bigger play at hand here, though; with a combined addressable market of 65 million, Argentina and Chile are set to play critical roles in SWVL's wider expansion plans in the region, with Mexico also on its wishlist.

“Latin America represents a compelling opportunity for SWVL to continue its global expansion, all the while capitalising on unmet commuting needs for hundreds of millions of individuals living within urban megacities,” said SWVL CEO, Mostafa Kandil. “Viapool shares our vision of transforming public transportation by making daily commuting more accessible, convenient and sustainable, and has demonstrated impressive growth, unit economics and customer traction. By adding Viapool to the SWVL platform, we will be ideally positioned to scale our operations to additional cities within the region."

It’s been a remarkable rise for SWVL since launching in 2017. Within four years of launching, the company has gone on to expand into Kenya, Pakistan, Jordan and UAE, with the European market also in the crosshairs.