Nigeria’s automotive company Autochek has acquired CoinAfrique, a francophone-focused ad marketplace. The latest acquisition joins a chain of acquisitions the company has been embarking on these past months.
In May, Autochek acquired KIFAL Auto, a Morocco-based C2C used car marketplace that connects car buyers and sellers. KIFAL Auto was founded in 2019 by Nizar Abdalaoui Maane and is currently one of the market leaders in the auto marketplace space in Morocco. Its platform is one of the biggest in Morocco and it offers both used and new cars. Following this acquisition, Autochek became present in six African countries across East, North, and West Africa. Before KIFAL Auto’s acquisition, Autochek acquired Cheki Kenya and Uganda from Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM) in September, just months after acquiring the Nigerian and Ghanaian wings.
As part of the acquisition, CoinAfrique’s team will be joining Autochek’s team. Both teams will work together to run the region’s operations. Autochek will be leveraging CoinAfrique’s regional customer base in Francophone Africa to accelerate its car financing services. Founded in 2016 by Matthias Papet and Eric Genetre, the marketplace attracts 60,000 new ads and 1.5 million visits on a monthly basis. Its car category accounts for at least 50 percent of its business transactions. Autochek also wants to leverage Africa’s growing automotive market that’s expected to be valued at $142 billion by 2027.
In a statement, co-founder Matthias Papet said that “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.”
CoinAfrique classifieds ads marketplace is active in 12 Francophone markets and combined with Autochek’s presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Uganda, and Morocco, both companies stand to gain a lot from the acquisition.
