Autochek Raises $3.4M Pre-Seed Fund, Set to Disrupt the African Automotive Space

Less than 6 months of its launch, Nigeria based automotive trading startup, Autochek has raised a pre-seed round of $3.4 million. The funding round was co-led by TLcom Capital and 4DX ventures. Golden Palm Investments, Lateral Capital, MSA Capital, and Kepple Africa Ventures also joined in the investment round.

Autochek is a network for consumers and businesses to buy, sell and service cars. Users can also finance cars sales on the platform. To help consumers with financing, the startup’s CEO, Etop Ikpe said it was launched in partnership with 10 banks in Nigeria and two in Ghana.

Speaking about the development, Ikpe told Techcrunch that ‘creating more financing options is both a big opportunity for the startup and consumers.

“The used car market in Africa is a $45 billion a year market that has only a 5% financing penetration rate. So there is a huge upside for growth.”

Etop Ikpe, CEO of Autochek

Autocheck generates revenues through fees charged on consumer transactions and commissions paid by dealers and service shops on the platform. Consumers can sign up and use the Autochek app for free.

Autochek plans to use its seed-financing to expand services and geographic scope. The startup will add associated auto-related services, such as insurance and blue book pricing products. It is also eyeing a possible entry into new countries such as Ivory Coast, Senegal, South Africa, Kenya,  Egypt and Algeria.

This funding round follows the company’s acquisition of Cheki, a digital car sales marketplace in Nigeria and Ghana. This was after the CEO, Etop Ikpe, along with other top executives, left Cars45 the startup he co-founded in 2016.

This implies that Autochek will be in direct competition with Ikpe’s previous venture in the business space.