Mecho Autotech gets $2.15M to expand vehicle maintenance
Nigerian vehicle repair and maintenance startup Mecho Autotech has raised $2.15M in a seed funding round to expand its capacities and acquire more customers.
Investors in the round included Future Africa, Hoaq Capital, Cathexis Ventures, V8 Capital, Silver Squid, Tekedia Capital, and the round was oversubscribed by over 300%.
Mecho is an on-demand auto repair and maintenance platform for individuals and businesses launched in 2021. Founders Ayoola Akinkunmi and Olusegun Owoade aim to develop the spare parts value chain. The sector has already served over 100 third-party mechanics and several large ticket inventory purchases for B2B customers.
Olusegun Owoade said that the startup is tackling poor vehicle maintenance through its unique technique.
“So what we did was create a network of vetted technicians across 35 states out in Nigeria to tackle the poor vehicle maintenance culture in Nigeria.
“We also created an insurance plan because we know that motor insurance is compulsory. So if we have an insurance plan that has an annual maintenance plan embedded, it’s more or less substituting this for the after-sales package people with brand new vehicles typically get,” said Owoade.
Owoade also added that Mecho Autotech decided to work with business clients first because it gave the company time to fine-tune its service. The founder also stated that these clients, who own large fleets, typically engage with several workshops and spend over $30 million on yearly vehicle repairs and maintenance. Using its unique technique, Mecho Autotech deals with one entity that coordinates these workshops for them.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Future Africa’s founder and general partner, said his fund’s thesis would back founders solving challenging problems in large markets.
“With over 12 million cars on our roads and more on the way, leveraging technology to bring order to vehicle maintenance and repair is overdue. We are delighted to work with the Mecho Autotech team as they brilliantly execute on building out the vehicle repair value chain across Africa and create new and decent highly skilled auto repair jobs,” he said.