Autochek has announced the acquisition of CoinAfrique, a classified ads platform focused on French-speaking Africa, as part of an expansion into the auto financing market in the region.
It is the third company acquisition by Autochek after Cheki.com and KIFAL of Morocco. CoinAfrique is reportedly the top classified marketplace for Francophone Africa, with a presence in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and 10 other French-speaking African countries.
Founded in 2016, the classified ads platform which enables businesses and individuals to seamlessly buy and sell vehicles, electronics, real estate, and other goods, has seen its mobile app downloaded more than 2 million times, with 800,000 monthly active users and 60,000 new ads per month. The website receives over 1.5 million visits per month.
Automotive transactions account for 50 percent of the business transacted on the CoinAfrique platform. Autochek says that acquiring the company will simplify the process for more French-speaking Africans to access financing and other value-added services for their vehicles. CoinAfrique will continue to conduct its wider classified business across the various product categories. Integration of Autochek’s auto financing product is expected to drive access to credit for automotive purchases.
Etop Ikpe, CEO and co-founder of Autochek describes Mattias Papet and Eric Genetre, founders of CoinAfrique as pioneers of the classifieds model in Africa who have built an outstanding platform with many significant partnerships with car dealers, fintech platforms, and other stakeholders in the region’s automotive market.
Read also: Autochek acquires Morocco’s KIFAL to boost expansion in North Africa
Francophone Africa is seen as home to many of the fastest-growing economies on the continent, as well as the fastest-growing brand new car market, which is Cote d’Ivoire. Senegal is also projected to be the fastest-growing economy in Africa by 2023.
The acquisition, therefore, provides Autochek with an extensive database across Francophone Africa to facilitate auto financing for consumers and SMEs across the region to purchase their desired vehicles.
“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,” Ikpe said.
Autochek said in a statement that it 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.
“We are excited 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,” said Matthias Papet, CEO and co-founder of CoinAfrique.
The CoinAfrique team will join Autochek and will support the mission to make car ownership more accessible and affordable across the continent. With this acquisition, as well as the recent acquisition of Morocco’s KIFAL Auto, Autochek is doubling down on its Francophone focus to replicate the successes achieved so far in the English-speaking West Africa and East Africa region, as local teams are empowered to build for the nuances of their specific markets.
