Nigeria-based auto-tech company Autochek has announced the acquisition of CoinAfrique, the leading platform for classified adverts in French-speaking Africa, to accelerate penetration of its auto-financing services into Francophone Africa.
Autochek aims to build digital solutions that will enhance and enable a seamless and safe automotive commerce experience across Africa. The company uses technology to transform the automotive buying and selling experience for African consumers, by creating a single marketplace for consumers’ automotive needs, from sourcing and financing to after sales support and warranties.
Acquisitions have been central to the startup’s speedy expansion strategy. Autochek launched in September 2020 having acquired automotive marketplaces Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana from ROAM Africa. In addition to Ghana, it has expanded to Kenya and Uganda, with the latter two launches having again been accomplished by the acquisition of Cheki properties.
In May, it acquired Moroccan counterpart KIFAL Auto to drive its expansion into the North Africa region. The startup, which last year raised a US$13.1 million seed funding round for West African expansion, has now moved into Ivory Coast, Senegal and other French=speaking countries with the acquisition of CoinAfrique.
Founded in 2016 by Matthias Papet and Eric Genetre, with a presence in 12 French-speaking African countries, CoinAfrique has grown to become the number one classified marketplace for Francophone Africa, enabling businesses and individuals to seamlessly buy and sell vehicles, electronics, real estate and other goods.
The CoinAfrique app has been downloaded more than two million times, with 800,000 monthly active users and 60,000 new ads per month. With 50 per cent of the business transacted on the CoinAfrique platform happening in the automotive category, its acquisition by Autochel will simplify the process for more French-speaking Africans to access financing and other value-added services for their vehicles.
CoinAfrique’s wider classifieds business will continue to operate across the various product categories, with a deep integration of Autochek’s auto-financing product to drive access to credit for automotive purchases. The CoinAfrique team will join Autochek.
“Matthias and Eric are pioneers of the classifieds model in Africa and they have built an outstanding platform with many significant partnerships with car dealers, fintech platforms and other stakeholders in the Francophone automotive sector. They are joining the Autochek family with many years of business and infrastructure development experience across Europe and Africa and we are looking forward to leveraging their expertise to improve the automotive finance value proposition across the continent,” said Etop Ikpe, CEO and co-founder of Autochek.
Papet said he was excited about the opportunity to drive the penetration of auto-financing across Francophone Africa and to support Autochek’s wider mission across Africa.
“We see many opportunities to unlock value for users across all the categories on our platform and to expand into new countries, and we are looking forward to leveraging Autochek’s market leading loans product and expertise to deliver more transformative experiences for our users,” he said.
