AceleraLATAM invests in Ualabee, the startup transforming urban mobility in Latin America

Ualabee, the startup transforming urban mobility in Latin America.

Urban mobility in Latin America is a monumental challenge. Congested cities, fragmented public transportation, and a lack of accurate data have consistently stood in the way of improving the user experience. However, Ualabee, a startup founded in Argentina, is redefining the landscape with an end-to-end solution designed to make mobility more efficient and sustainable. Now, after participating in Fast Track by AceleraLatam, the company has closed a significant investment round with the goal of expanding to 10 key cities in the region.

From challenges to a consolidated business model

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Joaquín Di Mario, Ualabee’s CEO and co-founder, has been immersed in the world of mobility since 2015. Before founding the company, he developed other initiatives, including Mi Autobús, a startup with the same mission: to optimize public transportation. But it wasn’t until 2019 that Ualabee was born, with a more comprehensive vision aligned with global mobility trends.

With four of the world’s ten most congested cities located in Latin America, traffic and the lack of integration among different modes of transportation result in millions of dollars in lost productivity and affect the quality of life of millions of people. Ualabee decided to tackle this problem at its root: the lack of standardized data and limited collaboration between the public and private sectors.

“We’ve become an integrator of public and private transportation operators in the city,” explains Joaquín. “Our goal is to help users better plan their trips by combining different modes of transportation, while also offering valuable data to companies and governments to improve infrastructure and urban mobility.”

The key pivot: from B2C to B2B2C‍

One of the most strategic changes to Ualabee ’s business model was its transition from a direct-to-consumer (B2C) approach to a B2B2C model, in which companies and governments are its primary customers, while end users remain an essential part of the platform.

With this shift, Ualabee has developed three key pillars of its service:

• Standardization of transportation data: Adapting information to international protocols (such as GTFS) to improve interoperability across global platforms.
• Apps for users: Its new app, Treep, helps people optimize their journeys and combine different modes of transportation.
• Mobility data analysis: It provides anonymized information to governments and transportation operators to improve decision-making and mobility infrastructure.

This approach has enabled the company to grow and operate in 30 cities across 7 countries, although, as Joaquín explains, its real focus is on the 8 cities that are already generating revenue.

The challenge of raising capital and the Fast Track experience

‍Although Ualabee already had a clear vision and a validated product, raising capital in an uncertain market was no easy task. Joaquín participated in Fast Track by AceleraLatam, a program designed for startups with experience in the ecosystem that want to improve their fundraising strategy.

“I knew the business well, but I didn’t fully understand the large-scale fundraising process,” says Joaquín. “Fast Track helped us understand how investors think and create an effective strategy to secure the investment.”

The program gave him access to a key network of contacts and taught him how to structure a compelling narrative for investors. The process wasn’t immediate: there were more than 400 meetings before the round closed with 8 investment funds.

“It was a full year of work. Many meetings, many rejections, but also many lessons. What I value most about the program is how bluntly they explained the reality of venture capital: it’s not all optimism; there are sharks on the other side, and you have to be smarter than they are.”

Learn all about Fast Track and apply before 14 April.

Where the new investment will go

With its recent funding round, Ualabee will focus on expanding to 10 strategic cities, including in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru. The investment will go toward:

• Expanding its presence and monetization with transportation operators.
• Refining its Product-Market Fit and replicating success stories in new cities.
• Continuing to strengthen its technology, especially the digitization of transportation data.

“The key to scaling our business is data standardization,” explains Joaquín. “Once we’re established in a city and have managed to structure its transportation information, it becomes much harder for other players to enter. We’re building barriers to entry to establish ourselves as the region’s leading mobility solution.”

The future of mobility in Latin America

With its public and private transportation integration model, data platform, and expansion strategy, Ualabee is poised to become a key player in urban mobility in Latin America. Its focus on digitizing mobility and data-driven decision-making could transform how millions of people get around the region.

“This is just the beginning. Our goal is for Ualabee to become the go-to mobility platform for all of Latin America, helping cities, companies, and people get around more efficiently and sustainably,” concludes Joaquín.

The journey hasn’t been easy, but with investment now secured and a clear strategy, Ualabee is ready to accelerate its impact on urban mobility.