Shekel Mobility, a B2B marketplace for auto dealers in Africa, raises $7M

Africa's demand for cars averages over 2.4 million cars and 300,000 commercial vehicles annually according to the World Economic Forum. Despite this demand, car ownership remains below the global average, setting the stage for innovative solutions like Shekel Mobility, a Nigerian B2B auto dealers marketplace.

Recently armed with a recent funding injection of $7 million, including $3.2 million in equity and $4 million in debt, Shekel Mobility sets its sights on positioning itself as a leading platform for launching and growing car dealerships in Africa.

In the recent funding round, which follows a successful $1.95 million pre-seed investment led by Ventures Platform, Shekel Mobility attracted a consortium of backers. Ventures Platform co-led the seed round with MaC Venture Capital, joined by an ensemble of investors ranging from Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Unpopular Ventures, Maiora Capital, PageOne Lab Inc., Phoenix Investment Club, Heirloom VC, Pioneer Ventures, and other angel investors. Zedvance, VFD Microfinance Bank, Zenith Bank, and Fluna also played a key role, in offering the debt component.

At its core, Shekel Mobility, founded by Benjamen Oladokun and Sanmi Olukanmi aims to revolutionize the $30 billion African used car market. Through its platform it offers auto dealers immediate access to financing through its flagship product Shekel Credit, with credit limits extending up to $200,000 for vehicle purchases, typically falling within the $5,000 to $20,000 range. Furthermore, the company extends support to dealers grappling with challenges in meeting the stipulated timeframe for selling a vehicle.

To date, the auto dealer marketplace has powered transactions worth over $56 million, facilitating the growth of over 1,400 auto dealers by augmenting their inventories and sales across 7,000 cars.

With this new funding, the startup plans to launch another product, Shekel Business to modernise the informal trading operations in the auto dealership sector.