Nigerian automotive company, Autochek today announced the acquisition of Cheki Kenya and Cheki Uganda from Ringier One Africa Media (ROAM) for an undisclosed amount.
According to Techcrunch, Autochek will finalize the deal in the coming weeks. Last year, Autochek acquired both Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana. This new acquisition completes its expansion into East Africa.
Cheki launched in 2010 as an online car classified for dealers, importers, and private sellers in Nigeria. The startup, headquartered in Lagos, expanded operations to Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In 2017, Cheki got acquired by ROAM and joined a list of online marketplaces and classifieds in its network like Jobberman.
Cheki Kenya has 700,000 users and lists over 12,000 vehicles monthly. It also claims to have grown 80% year-on-year in the last two years, making it a valuable asset for Autochek’s plan for regional expansion.
What they are saying
Clemens Weitz, ROAM CEO said, “Across the world, we see a new evolution of digital automotive platforms, requiring deep specialization. Specifically in Africa, we believe that Autochek is the one player with the best team and expertise to truly create a game-changing consumer experience. For ROAM Africa, this deal is more than a very good transaction: It unleashes even more focus on our strategic playbook for our other businesses.”
Autochek CEO, Etop Ikpe said, “The beauty of our platform is that we can be diverse; for instance, we can have a retail or B2B approach. There’s a lot of dynamic ways we can work. So I think it’s natural that our goal is to typically be in every region. We’ve made our inroads into East and West, and we’ll continue to work as we want to be in North and South Africa,”
Autochek says a funding round is in the works to execute on this front and might close before the end of the year.