Autochek acquires CoinAfrique and expands to Francophone Africa

Autochek, the Nigerian automotive startup has accelerated its expansion to Francophone Africa after acquiring CoinAfrique for an undisclosed amount. 

CoinAfrique is the leading platform for classified ads in French-speaking Africa, and this acquisition will see Autocheck penetrate its auto financing services in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and other French-speaking African countries.

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

The platform is said to attract 60,000 new ads and 1.5 million visits every month, with the car category accounting for 50% of the business transactions happening on the site. Autocheck says this acquisition will simplify its auto financing product process for more French-speaking Africans to access financing and other value-added services for their vehicles. 

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.

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. 

According to Etop Ikpe, CEO and co-founder of 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.” 

Matthias Papet, CEO and co-founder of CoinAfrique, said, “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.”

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.