Sometime in November 2020, Autochek, an automotive technology company secured $3.4 million in a pre-seed funding round.
While the company aims to build solutions for the African market, it plans to invest some of the funds to further grow its teams.
While combining technology and data to power every process of the automotive transactional ecosystem for a large number of people, Autochek aims to transform the automotive buying and selling experience for African consumers, by creating a single marketplace for all automotive needs.
Through the acquisition of its Nigerian and Ghanian markets, Autochek already has more than 20,000 unique vehicles listed on its platform, and more than 12,000 dealers and private sellers, as well as a range of corporate partners and customers.
Leveraging its extensive on-the-ground network of dealers and an experienced leadership team, the new platform and mobile app has been designed to address the pain points of buying, selling and repairing cars in Africa such as access to finance (for both consumers and dealers), maintenance and insurance, and bring greater value to car dealerships by enabling and enhancing automotive commerce across the continent.
By focusing on the demands of both customers and dealers, Autochek is building an ecosystem of solutions specifically designed to deliver an unrivalled customer experience for the African automotive market.
We had a brief chat with Etop Ikpe, Founder and CEO of Autochek, who described the future of Nigeria’s automotive technology industry with regards to what the platform is bringing to the table.
What is Nigeria’s automotive technology industry like and what to expect from it in the future?
Etop explained that despite Nigeria being a mobile-first economy, the automotive experience in the country is still happening almost entirely in-person.
“If you want to buy a car, access repairs or maintenance for your car, a substantial amount of the customer journey doesn’t involve any technology.
There are a few online marketplaces and digital platforms that provide some services but the industry is still largely analogue.”, Etop noted.
According to Etop, there are also limited data available to car dealers to underpin business decisions and not too many technology solutions for organizations to address their individual needs.
The African automotive industry is projected to grow over the next decade and Nigeria is expected to play a big part in that growth.
A growing middle class, a relatively young population and rapid urbanization mean more people will need cars (and the support services that go with them) to ensure that they can move around and have greater control of their lives.
“This is why we are aiming to combine technology and data to power every process of the automotive transactional ecosystem for people across the country.”, Etop stressed
How Autochek is championing a single market place for all automotive needs in Nigeria?
Autochek is focusing on the demands of both customers and suppliers of Automotive services such as dealers, workshops, insurers and financial institutions.
“We are building an ecosystem of solutions specifically designed to deliver an unrivalled customer experience for the African automotive market.”
According to Etop, the Autochek App will be at the heart of the services the company will be providing. Via the app, car owners and potential owners will have access to loans, auctions, trade-ins and maintenance.
“Automotive dealers and maintenance workshops will have access to real-time car auctions, fleet management, marketing support and standardised reports on car conditions and market value, as well as inventory management, CRM for lead management and garage management systems.
Financial institutions like banks and fintech will also have access to a credit management dashboard that will make it easier for them to access customers.”, Etop explained
How the new investment will be used to grow its Nigerian and Ghana markets?
The new investment will be used to build the Nigeria and Ghana markets that were recently acquired.
The main focus will be on the technology as our role in the market is to facilitate the symbiosis among all stakeholders in the automobile industry.
Featured Image: Etop Ikpe, Founder and CEO of Autochek
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