Swvl to become first Middle East unicorn to register on NASDAQ through an all-female SPAC deal

Swvl, a Dubai-based provider of mass transit and shared mobility solutions, and Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, the first all-women special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in Swvl becoming a publicly listed company. Upon completion of the proposed transaction, the combined public company will be named Swvl Holdings Corp and is expected to be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “SWVL”.

The deal was shared on Twitter by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, congratulated Mostafa Kandil and added, “that Dubai will remain a platform for all ambitious Arab youth”.

In alignment with sustainability-focused, Queen’s Gambit, Swvl is focused on removing barriers to social and economic opportunity while reducing the carbon footprint of megacities. The combined company will draw on Queen’s Gambit’s team to tap into opportunities for strategic and operational collaboration with Agility and Zain, investors in the new combined company, to accelerate Swvl’s global expansion, increase user engagement and expand its Transport as a Service (TaaS) client base.

Kandil, Swvl Founder and CEO, said, “Mass transit systems in cities around the world are riddled with deficiencies, resulting in congestion, environmental concerns and reduced productivity. In certain emerging market cities, commuter round-trip wait times are often greater than 40 minutes and, in one major city, upwards of 80 percent of women reported that they have experienced harassment on public transport. Even in developed markets, the societal cost imposed by a lack of mass transit solutions can be staggering. In the United States and in many parts of the world, current alternatives to mass transit are prohibitively expensive. To address these problems, we founded Swvl with a simple but ambitious goal – to empower all people to go where they want to, when they want to, and to feel comfortable doing it.”

In four years, Swvl has become the industry leader in mass-transit across 10 cities in Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Swvl’s gross revenues and markets have grown rapidly, with more than 1.4 million riders booking more than 46 million rides to date with thousands of drivers on Swvl’s platform. Swvl’s established user base has a track record of loyalty, with more than 20 percent of inter-city riders opting to use multiple platform offerings. Further, the Company empowers drivers in emerging markets – who frequently experience income uncertainty from existing mass transit operations – to earn approximately double that of other ride-sharing platforms. With its TaaS offerings, Swvl has already enabled more than 100 organizations around the world to reduce costs through dynamic routing, network planning, demand estimation, fleet optimization, and other leading transit services.

Victoria Grace, Queen’s Gambit Founder & Chief Executive Officer, added, “Having established a leadership position in key emerging markets, we believe Swvl is ready to capitalize on a truly global market opportunity. We look forward to working with their team to create significant and sustained value for investors and all stakeholders alike. We will bring to bear the collective financial and operational expertise of the Queen’s Gambit platform, for the benefit of Swvl and the communities that it serves, and believe this combination will serve as a catalyst for massive growth at scale.”

Kandil feels that the partnership with Queen’s Gambit is ideal as both companies share core values and is committed to helping accelerate Swvl’s long-term growth plans.