End of the Road for ride-sharing startup, GoMyWay

GoMyWay, a ride-sharing service that launched in 2015, is shutting down its operations by the end of October over lack of investible funding.

In an email sent to users on Wednesday morning, 27 September, 2017, Damilola Teidi, the CEO of the startup made the announcement:



I hope you are doing well. It is with deep regret that I write this email to let you know that GoMyWay will be closing down. In this email, I’ll let you know why we are closing as well as offer an alternative service. I hope you take a few minutes to read.

In 2015, I was hired as the CEO, via recommendation by my previous employers, to run GoMyWay. The plan by its Shareholders/Investors was to run a free service for a year or two, and focus on growing the user-base.

Over the last 2 years, the team put in time and effort to growing the business and building a trusted ridesharing community. We went from less than 1000 members in the first few months to 12,000+ members; 106,630 rides offered and rides shared across 16 states. However, it does take a lot of resources to run this business and the initial plan was no longer sustainable. The Shareholders/Investors came to a conclusion to shut down operations and close the business as there were no funds to invest further.

I want to specially thank you for your support. I believe GoMyWay had the best community and I can write a few pages about it. We had users who spread the word about us even when we had no referral codes to give in return. I remember when Yinka visited a member and he had mentioned how everyone in his office now uses GoMyWay through him. We had users who were always available to share amazing ideas with us. It’s no surprise that the second highest acquisition channel was referrals/word of mouth.

It does break our hearts to end this wonderful community; and although we did try to keep it going, but the team has now decided to keep the platform running till the end of October. From today, the signup page will no longer be accessible and customer support would also be winding down.

I’m so proud of everyone that worked on GoMyWay. The business was blessed to have the most dedicated and hardworking staff who put in more than their time into this. Some of our users have come in contact with our staff, so they know I am not exaggerating. Thank you Yinka, Favour, Segun, Ope, Ayo, Busayo, Doyin and all the contract staff and interns that worked with us. God bless you immensely.

Lastly, I felt it would be unfair to leave you and other users hanging with no alternative; so, if you are resident in Lagos and in need of an affordable ride to/from work, please check out the guys at Shuttlers who run an affordable shuttle service for professionals. If interested, fill out their form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSef_iWYRMNvDUBfFp0topz5QKTNCvUIL5gCByDt7EbkTR0SmA/viewform

Thank you very much; and please feel free to reply this email if you would like to reach me. I will try to reply to as many as possible.

With Love,

Damilola

In June this year, the company celebrated its second year of operations. It stated that the platform had experienced a 150% increase in registered members and a 300% increase in the number of seats offered. It also said that the company had recorded rides shared in 16 states in Nigeria, a major leap from 5 states as at its last anniversary.