Autochek has acquired CoinAfrique, a leading platform for classified ads in French-speaking Africa, to accelerate the penetration of its auto financing services in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and other French-speaking African countries.
Francophone Africa is home to many of the fastest-growing economies on the continent, as well as the fastest-growing brand-new car market – Côte d’Ivoire. It is also home to Senegal which is projected to be the fastest-growing economy in Africa by 2023. With this acquisition, Autochek will be positioned to leverage CoinAfrique’s extensive database across Francophone Africa to facilitate auto financing for consumers and SMEs across this region to purchase their desired vehicles.
It will also support further integration of the Pan-African automotive industry to drive shared value for consumers, manufacturers, financial institutions and other stakeholders. “[CoinAfrique] is the pioneer 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,” Etop Ikpe, CEO and co-founder of Autochek said.
Founded in 2016 by Matthias Papet and Eric Genetre, with a presence in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and 10 other 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 2 million times, with 800,000 monthly active users and 60,000 new ads per month. The website receives more than 1.5 million visits per month. With 50% of the business transacted on the CoinAfrique platform happening in the automotive category, this acquisition 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 deep integration of Autochek’s auto financing product to drive access to credit for automotive purchases.
In a statement shared with Condia, Matthias Papet, CEO and co-founder of CoinAfrique expressed his excitement about the opportunity to drive the penetration of auto financing across Francophone Africa and to support the 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,” Papet said.
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Autochek is building the financial infrastructure to drive the penetration of auto financing across Africa, powered by a data analytics engine that makes it easier for financial institutions to offer credit to consumers. It has existing operations across North, West and East Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda), a partner-led retail footprint in over 1,500 dealer and workshop locations, and more than 70 banking partners including Access Bank, BNP Paribas, Ecobank, UBA, Bank of Africa and NCBA Bank.
Autochek’s acquisitions and funding history
Recently, Autochek acquired Morocco’s KIFAL Auto to drive its expansion into North Africa. Acquisitions have remained the company’s preferred expansion strategy.
In 2021, Autochek reached an agreement with ROAM Africa to acquire Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda as part of its plans to expand further into the East African Market. Before the East African acquisitions, the company acquired Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana to enhance its operations in West Africa.
Per BD Tracker, Autochek has raised $16.5 million (based on disclosed rounds) since it was launched in October 2020. The company raised a $3.4 million pre-seed in 2020, the round was co-led by TLcom and 4DX Ventures. Last year, Autochek secured a $13.1 million seed fund to scale its technology and accelerate expansion.
