Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Toyota Tsusho) invested in the series A round of financing and entered a business alliance agreement with WhereIsMyTransport Ltd. (WIMT), a UK start-up company that deploys a public transportation data platform business in 39 cities in emerging countries. The company has a site in Cape Town, South Africa. The goal is to promote business development of mobility services and in the MaaS domain business in emerging markets.

Public transportation systems in emerging countries in the region of Africa are not developed. Many people carry out their life, relying on auxiliary public transportation, which includes a minibus operated by a sole proprietor, also known as paratransit. However, it is difficult even for administrative agencies to grasp the actual conditions of this type of informal transportation. An issue is a decline in transportation efficiency and safety in cities overall.

WIMT made it possible to provide a public transportation data platform that complies to the unique transportation environment in emerging countries by using its proprietary approach to using digital technology to gather and visualize transportation data (routes, fares, etc.) related to all public transportation, including paratransit.

The data platform used by WIMT gathers information related to transportation routes, which corresponds to roughly 186,000km per day, and supports the mobility of about 10 million users. WIMT is promoting the improvement of transportation accessibility, the development of safe and efficient transportation services and the solving of social issues by building a MaaS infrastructure (integrated transportation data/functions) that specializes in emerging countries.

The automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation owing to technological reforms, as exemplified by CASE. There is growing demand worldwide for new mobility services. In emerging countries, the provision of new mobility services is important to solve social issues, including fragile urban and transportation infrastructures.

Toyoda Tsusho plans to support the development of the public transportation data platform business provided by WIMT, which Toyota Tsusho invested in this time around, use the knowhow and global networks it possesses to further accelerate development for emerging countries. In addition, through the implementation of this business, Toyota Tsusho aims to contribute to solving social issues and realizing a sustainable urban transportation system via the MaaS business in emerging countries.