The Instituto de Crédito Oficial and the president of Gestamp, Francisco Riberas, enter a minority share in the capital of Cabify within a financing operation of 100 million launched by the transport company.
A statement from Cabify confirms the entry of the ICO’s Next Tech fund, as EL MUNDO advanced on Monday, in what constitutes a vote of confidence from the Government for Cabify in contrast to the attacks launched against the company by members of the wing of Podemos in defense of the taxi sector. The ICO depends on the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Nadia Calviño.
Along with this state fund from Axis, the ICO venture capital company, Orilla Asset Management also takes a stake, which is the investment company of the direct family of the president of Gestamp, Francisco Riberas, and there are “other investors, who have committed to the leading Spanish project in sustainable and technological mobility”, says Cabify without further detail. All of them join in this round the investment made by Mutua Madrileña in July 2022, which acquired 1.26%, and the loan granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) also last year to finance the renovation of its move towards electric vehicles. It would have been striking for the EIB to support Cabify and for the ICO technology fund to exclude it from its investments for political reasons.
Cabify quantifies this total financing operation “at 110 million dollars”, about 100 million euros, of which 40 million are the EIB loan and another 60 million, participation takings from different investors, including the ICO fund. The multimobility platform does not specify the capital that each one takes or the amount of their investment, although it is very minority and does not interfere in the management of the team of the president, Juan de Antonio.
He states that “this commitment by strategic investors is recognition of Cabify’s positive impact and potential to continue creating long-term value for our investors and the cities in which we operate. They are partners who share our vision of the industry of sustainable mobility and will allow us to accelerate compliance with our strategic plan”.
Cabify also does not detail what valuation it reaches with this round of financing, the first it has needed since 2018. In that year, the company was valued at 1,400 million euros, consecrating itself as a Spanish “unicorn”. This is what new technology companies that exceed a valuation of one billion are called.
What Cabify does do is point out that “as an estimated advance on its economic results, the company’s business volume in 2022 is already 24% higher than the levels of 2019, and 32% in relation to 2021”.
According to Juan de Antonio, “the project is experiencing a stage of maturity and sustainable growth that is unique in its sector. Our goal is to accelerate our strategic plan and we project a significant increase in revenue volume and profitability.”
The statement maintains that “the company plans to multiply its revenue by three in the next three years” and ensures that with this new injection of capital “it will increase its market share in the countries in which it operates and, among other projects, will expand to more than 25 cities in Latin America and Spain”, preferably those with more than 200,000 inhabitants. In Spain, its main fortress is Madrid, where De Antonio has committed to the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso to contain prices. And, in general, he has ensured that all his trips in Spain will be in zero-emission vehicles in 2025.
According to the company, it already has “more than 1,000 employees, in Spain and Latin America.” It operates in seven countries and more than 40 cities, “it has more than 42 million registered users and 1.2 million collaborating drivers and taxi drivers.”
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