Africa’s startups venture into Different Marketplaces is so promising as Nigerian based Cars45 raised a $5 million Series A funding from the Frontier Cars Group, a holding company whose backers include Balderton Capital, EchoVC, TPG Growth, and NEA.
Cars45 will deploy the capital to improve its platform that buys, sells, prices, and rates the condition of pre-owned autos.
“The used-car market in Nigeria is generally a big hassle. There’s so much mistrust, no vehicle history, and not much of a structured dealer network. We’ve created something that changes all that, offering transparency, speed, convenience, and safety, in a highly frictional and opaque market.” said Cars45 CEO Etop Ikpe.
The Cars45 process begins online, where owners enter their vehicle information for a free quote. They can then schedule an appointment at one of the company’s 13 inspection centres in Nigeria.After a multi-point evaluation including engine, brakes, tires, and a road-test, Cars45 makes an offer. If accepted, the company commits to wire payment to the owner’s bank account within 45 minutes.
Ikpe co-founded Cars45 in 2016 with Iyamu Mohammed, Sujay Tyle, and Peter Lindholm. The team’s background spans startup experience in Africa, Europe, and Silicon Valley. Ikpe was an MD at Nigerian e-commerce startup DealDey and Mohammed Head of Operations at African used car site Carmudi (now JumiaCar). Tyle was a COO at Hired.com and Lindholm did stints at mobile operator Millicom and Swedish fashion site Nelly.com.
Cars45 CEO Etop Ikpe sees that scale occurring beyond in Nigeria and beyond. “We believe the opportunities are there to expand into other African cities with high vehicle sales traffic…and to operate similar models in emerging markets,” he said. “That’s still long down the line, but once the right time comes we’ll definitely go for it.”
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