The news:
- Zenith Bank and VFD Microfinance Bank have participated in a $7 million funding round by B2B car financing platform, Shekel Mobility.
- The funding was a debt and equity round led by Ventures Platform and MaC VC.
- Shekel which is a marketplace for auto dealers, plans to use the funding to increase its revenue.
Founded by Benjamin Oladokun and Sanmi Olukanmi, Shekel Mobility is a B2B auto dealer marketplace that helps car dealers find, finance and sell cars.
Per TechCrunch, the startup has raised $7 million in a funding round led by Ventures Platform and MaC Venture after a $1.95 million funding earlier this year.
Of the total funding, $3.2 million is equity while $4 million is debt funding.
Participating in the company's equity round alongside Venture Platform are Y Combinator, Voltron Capital, Zedcrest, Rebel Fund, Unpopular Ventures, Maiora Capital, PageOne Lab Inc., Phoenix Investment Club, Heirloom VC, and Pioneer Ventures.
Commercial banks and other financial entities including Zenith Bank and VFD Microfinance Bank provided the $4 million debt financing.
The startup will use this funding to quadruple its annual recurring revenue (ARR) which is currently about $2 million.
Unlike other vehicle financing platforms like Moove and Autochek which provide vehicle financing to car users through dealers, Shekel is financing the dealers directly.
Its flagship product, Shekel Credit, helps vehicle dealers access credit of up to $200,000 to purchase vehicles. The dealer will provide 30% of the amount needed to purchase while Shekel credit finances the rest.
Shekel gets repaid when the vehicle is sold — usually within three months — with interest and transaction fees.
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With this model, Shekel is looking to build an auto dealership ecosystem with transaction values of up to $10 billion in a year by 2025.
Transactions on the platform currently stand at $56 million.
By controlling the dealer's purchase to the sale of the vehicle, Shekel said its default rate on loans is 0%.
While it's doubling down on increasing its revenue, Shekel is also working on Shekel Business, a platform to help auto dealers digitise their process.
