NIGERIA – Mecho Autotech, an on-demand auto repair and maintenance platform for individuals and businesses has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from VC firm Ingressive Capital as it bids to improve the quality and reliability of auto care services.
The funding also saw participation from Tekedia Capital Investment, and Mono’s CEO Abdul Hassan.
The investment from Ingressive Capital, a Nigeria-based seed-stage investment firm, will help introduce the startup to large organisations and fast-track its growth.
Mecho Autotech was co-founded by Olusegun Owoade and Ayoola Akinkunmi, and it was officially launched in April 2021. Owoade explained that him and his team had been onboarding and vetting mechanics across Nigeria since 2019 ahead of their official launch.
“The partnership is of huge benefit to our company’s quest to actively build out a sales pipeline and business development,” said Owoade.
“This is because Ingressive Capital will be providing support and networking opportunities by introducing Mecho to large companies running large fleets. I am happy because this will fast-track the growth of Mecho.”
Mecho has 35 team members and boasts of having the largest network of certified technicians in Nigeria with 7,000+ verified technicians across 25 states.
Since its launch eight months ago, Mecho has brokered strategic partnerships. Notable among the partnerships are the ones with Shuttlers, Tangerine Life, and DriveMe.
“Mecho is a car technician matching platform that helps car owners maintain and repair [their] vehicles with ease,” Owoade said.
“We hope to solve the problem and close the gap between car owners and quality repair services and maintenance.”
Earlier in July 2021, Mecho was announced as one of the nine African startups in Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 cohort. The other startups are Amenli (Egypt), Chari (Morocco), Floatpays (South Africa), Freterium (Morocco), Lemonade Finance (Nigeria), Odiggo (Egypt), ShipBlu (Egypt), and Suplias (Nigeria).
Ingressive Capital (IC) is a US$10 million venture capital fund targeting pre-seed and seed-stage tech-enabled businesses in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt. And it invests between US$200,000 and US$400,000 for 10% equity.
Ingressive has 23 companies in its portfolio, including Paystack which it exited last year. Owoade said having Ingressive as one of its investors “is of huge benefit to our company’s quest to actively build out a sales pipeline and business development”.
Ventures Platform Fund says on its website that it invests early in mission-driven founders that are building capital-efficient platforms that democratize prosperity, plug infrastructural gaps, connect underrepresented communities, create efficiencies, solve for non-consumption, and improve livelihoods. It also exited Paystack last year and has about 40 companies in its portfolio.
Founded by Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Tekedia Capital provides a platform for individuals, institutions and investment groups to invest at least US$10,000 in African tech companies.
Lastly, Mono’s CEO Abdul Hassan is a prolific angel investor. He’s one of the prominent Nigerian founders funding other founders. He had recently led the pre-seed round of Aboki Africa; Ingressive also participated in the round.
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