Nigerian Startup, Autochek acquires majority stake in Egypt’s AutoTager company

By Funmilola Gboteku

Autochek, an automotive technology company has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in AutoTager, an Egyptian automotive company to deepen its presence in North Africa.

Autochek made the disclosure in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

It said that AutoTager was a venture backed startup that was removing the friction from the car buying and selling process in Egypt.

According to the statement, the company enabled easier access to vetted vehicles and financing for consumers, and connecting dealers with serious buyers and technology solutions to improve their operations.

It said that the acquisition represented Autochek’s entry into Egypt, which was Africa’s second largest economy and the continent’s second largest automotive market.

Autochek said the country’s strategic geographical position, skilled workforce, large domestic market and the successful reforms undertaken by the country’s government in recent years had enabled dynamic growth and made it one of the largest recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa over the past decade.

“This acquisition also represents the third for Autochek in less than a year and the sixth in under two years, reflecting its emergence as the leading Pan-African automotive technology company.

“The company now has active operations in nine countries across East, West and North Africa, with a partner-led footprint of more than 2,000 dealers and workshop locations.

“This unrivalled footprint enables unparalleled insights into vehicle-related transactions and positions Autochek and its subsidiaries to deliver effective solutions for the needs of a wide range of stakeholders in Africa’s automotive ecosystem, “it said.

It said that AutoTager was founded in 2021 by Amr Rezk, a serial entrepreneur that had founded and co-founded multiple successful companies, including Fundseer, a leading private equity GP/LP coordination platform.

Commenting on the acquisition, Olajide Adamolekun, Co-founder of Autochek said that Rezk’s background and track record was impressive and the company was delighted to have him on board.

Adamolekun said his experience would be invaluable as they entered the Egyptian market and continued on their mission to improve the automotive finance value proposition on the continent and catalyse more growth across the ecosystem.

He said there were many parallels between Autochek and AutoTager and he was looking forward to building it to deliver more growth and success in the months and years to come.

Amr Rezk, the Founder of AutoTager said: “We are thrilled to partner with Autochek to pursue several sizable and unique opportunities in the automotive space.

“Autochek has deep automotive expertise and several all-weather strategies that have been tested and validated in multiple complex high growth markets.

The company’s track record of concurrently operating various business models in the automotive space is stellar and provides us with a wide menu of options and cutting-edge tools to offer AutoTager’s customers a truly unique proposition, “Rezk said.

He said that AutoTager was confident that the global original equipment manufacturer and financing partnerships that Autochek had secured would provide them with differentiated access.

Rezk said  the access would allow them to lead in the space while targeting high quality top decile returns.

(NAN)