Autochek expands to North Africa after acquiring Morocco’s Kifal Auto
Digital automotive commerce firm Autochek has obtained Morocco’s KIFAL Automobile for an undisclosed amount of money, marking the entry of the auto market into North Africa.
The deal arrives hardly a 12 months following Autochek acquired Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda from Ringier 1 Africa Media. Prior to the September 2021 transaction, Autochek experienced acquired Cheki’s subsidiaries in Ghana and Nigeria, and partnered with the CFAO Team to launch the community in Ivory Coastline. After KIFAL Auto’s acquisition, Autochek is now current in 6 countries across East, West and North Africa.
Like Autochek, KIFAL Auto hyperlinks car or truck consumers and sellers, and also, via partnerships, offers a number of other providers together with funding and insurance policy.
“From my initially interaction with Nizar and his workforce at KIFAL Vehicle, I was so amazed by their passion for offering productive solutions and their motivation to innovation. They have built an superb platform and we are thrilled to have them onboard at Autochek to help the work we are undertaking to boost the automotive finance price proposition in Africa. There are so a lot of parallels in our personal tales and I appear forward to a lengthy and mutually-useful romance for a long time to occur,” reported Autochek co-founder and CEO, Etop Ikpe, in a statement.
(L-R) Autochek CEO and co-founder Etop Ikpe and KIFAL Vehicle founder Nizar Abdallaoui Maane. lmage Credits: Autochek
KIFAL, which was started in 2019 by Nizar Abdalaoui Maane, is amongst the main automobile marketplaces in Morocco, one of the most significant marketplaces for employed and new automobiles in Africa. Following the most current deal, Maane and the KIFAL car workforce sign up for Autochek to lead the company’s expansion initiatives in North Africa.
“I have extended been an admirer of the operate Autochek has accomplished to enable improved ordeals across Africa’s automotive benefit chain. There is so significantly we can understand from every other, and I am wanting forward to bringing my working experience and skills to provide additional video game modifying innovation in Morocco and outside of. In our Market and specifically in an African context, it makes a large amount of feeling to go on growing with a substantial player. Morocco is a gateway into North Africa and I am assured that we can unlock new worth and generate more transformation throughout the board,” claimed Maane.
Autochek states it has 1,500 dealers as partners throughout its markets, and has partnerships with much more than 70 financing companions together with Entry Bank, Ecobank, UBA, Lender of Africa and NCBA Financial institution.
Automobiles mentioned on the website go by various phases of inspection, and are rated according to their standing and overall performance. Ekpe stated in a previous TechCrunch job interview that, “The assessments and some algorithmic checks on Autochek’s process enable to give a perception of the status and condition of the vehicle, pinpointing no matter if it is in a state to be financed … mainly because they (banking companies) do not want a predicament exactly where they finance a car and the subsequent working day, the motor knocks.”
Autochek reported financial loans are approved in about 48 several hours. The corporation earns by charging a cost to dealers listing on its platforms, in addition to a bank loan facilitation fee from banking institutions.
Autochek, which in Oct very last calendar year raised $13.1 million in a seed round, is backed by a range of traders including pan-African VC companies TLcom Cash, 4DX Ventures, Golden Palm Investments, Enza Funds, Lateral Money, Question Cash and, Mobility 54 Investment SAS, the enterprise money arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Team.
