AfriCar Group launches operations in 12 African countries to become the first car classifieds websites network on the continent
AfriCar Group launches its operations in 12 different countries in Africa, from Mali to Zambia or Somalia, for more than 250 million users, and plans to become the first cars classifieds network on the continent by opening 20 new countries per year in the next 2.5 years.
AfriCar Group has soft-launched its operations in 12 different African countries a few days ago (Burkina Faso, Benin, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Swaziland, Chad, Uganda, Zambia) with low competition in the car classifieds websites industry. Since its launch, the group’s entities has seen a big traction both on websites as well as on the social medias, with respectively more than 40,000 visits and also 45,000 facebook likes and has reached millions of facebook users in the last days.
All websites are based on the same framework and will evolve simultaneously, taking into account the local needs and issues. With a responsive technology, users can access AfriCar Group’s websites easily from any smartphone, which is the most common way to access internet services on the continent. AfriCar Group wants to connect local sellers with local buyers, either individuals and businesses, and increase the volume and sales as well as decreasing commissions and selling times. AfriCar Group plans to release in the next 6 months mobile applications for both Android and iOS phones, as well as new features for the daily visitors.
Each website has been created in order to give the best user experience possible and includes a word in one of the local languages. Burkina Faso, Benin, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Swaziland, Tchad, Uganda, Zambia.
AfriCar Group has already secured an undisclosed seed round with Australian and European business angels, in order to build teams and start showing the traction around car classifieds in Africa. The 70 people worldwide team includes operational teams in each country, as well as regional managers and a technical team localised in Sydney, Australia and a management team in Paris, France.
With a population planned to double in the next 30 years, Africa is the last eldorado for startups and has seen more and more interest from international VCs and investors in the past months. AfriCar Group wants to profit from the huge growth of smartphone and internet users on the continent, with tens of millions of new users yearly
Within two years, AfriCar Group plans to become the first car classifieds network on the continent, allowing users to trade their cars, motorbikes or trucks with users from neighbouring countries as well, which is a common trade currently already.
