Algerian based ride-hailing startup, TemTem just raised its largest-ever investment in the country – $1.7 million in seed funding.
TemTem was launched at the beginning of the year by the serial entrepreneur Kamel Haddar and has already over 45,000 users with book 70,000 rides on a monthly basis. The startup has 1,000 drivers in their networks and they’re currently adding more to the team. So far, TemTem operates in the capital city, Algiers, and the coastal city of Oran.
According to Kamel Haddar, the funding came from an angel investor and will be used to accelerate TemTem’s operations by expanding to 10 news cities within the next couple of months. They also aspire to penetrate into new foreign markets.
Kamel states that being the first startup to raise the largest-ever investment in the country for an early-stage startup is a recognition of TemTem’s quality in terms of its vision and effectiveness of their operations.
When asked about Careem’s upcoming expansion to the Algerian market and how it could affect TemTem, Kamal didn’t think it’d be an issue. “Competition is good as it educates the market and Careem could also be a partner. Algeria is a complicated market. A foreign company needs a local partner and we all know that is not that easy,” he said.