Kenyan used-car marketplace Peach Cars raise $5 million in seed investment
In recent years, Africa has witnessed a notable surge in the manufacturing sector, including the automotive industry. With a rapidly growing middle class, increasing urbanization, and supportive government policies, the continent is experiencing a significant expansion in vehicle manufacturing.
Nigeria's Innoson, Kenya's Mobius Motors, South Africa's Advanced Automotive Design and Morocco's Laraki are steering the landmass.
Unfortunately, despite the growth, it is awful that the continent still prioritizes foreign-used cars. One of the leading actors ensuring the importing of these cars to the region is Peach Cars. This Kenyan-based used-car marketplace has now successfully raised $5 million in seed investment.
The startup, founded by Kaoru Kaganoi and Zachary Petroni in 2020 to democratize car ownership in sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Kenya, will use the fund to grow the business, hire more talent and double down on research and development as it expands its tech solutions.
The car marketplace, which claims to currently generate over $200,000 monthly, has sold hundreds of used cars and is looking to launch a near-fully automated inspection centre in 2024. Additionally, it generates revenue by providing value-add services, including administrative work for transactions on agreements, inspections, change of ownerships, secured payment and handovers.
Peach's $5 million seed investment was led by Japan-based The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) and other angel investors, including Shintaro Yamada (founder and CEO of Mercari), Peter Kenevan (VP, Head of Japan at PayPal), and Hiroaki Ohta (general partner at Japan’s Waseda University Ventures).
