By Rosemary Iwuala
Autochek, the automotive technology company making car ownership more accessible and affordable across Africa, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in AutoTager, an Egyptian automotive technology company that makes it easier to find and buy cars, to deepen its presence in North Africa and support the company’s ongoing growth.
AutoTager is a venture backed startup that is removing the friction from the car buying and selling process in Egypt, enabling easier access to vetted vehicles and financing for consumers, and connecting dealers with serious buyers and technology solutions to improve their operations.
The company was founded in 2021 by Amr Rezk, a serial entrepreneur that has founded and co-founded multiple successful companies, including Fundseer, a leading private equity GP/LP coordination platform.
Amr has deep experience operating in and investing in various geographies across Africa and the Middle East, with a track record of building and sustaining high growth enterprises. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Amr worked with several large institutions including Goldman Sachs, EFG-Hermes and the Qatar Investment Authority where he led the Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds Investments Team. He has an academic background as an economist and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The acquisition represents Autochek’s entry into Egypt, which is Africa’s second largest economy and the continent’s second largest automotive market. The country’s strategic geographical position, skilled workforce, large domestic market and the successful reforms undertaken by the country’s government in recent years has 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 9 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.
Commenting on the acquisition, Olajide Adamolekun, Group CFO and co-founder of Autochek, said, “Amr’s background and track record is as impressive as it gets and I am delighted to have him on board. His experience will be invaluable as we enter the Egyptian market and continue on our mission to improve the automotive finance value proposition on the continent and catalyse more growth across the automotive ecosystem.
“There are many parallels between Autochek and AutoTager, and we are looking forward to building on these parallels to deliver more growth and success in the months and years to come,” he added.
Amr Rezk, CEO and 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 brings a proven playbook and several all-weather strategies that have been tested and validated in multiple complex high growth markets.
He added that “Autochek’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.
“We have very exciting plans and are confident that the global OEM and financing partnerships that Autochek has secured will also provide us with differentiated access allowing us to lead in our space while targeting high quality top decile returns,” he concluded.
