Jiji, Cars45 seal merge deal

By Chikodi Okereocha

Jiji has announced that it has reached an agreement to merge operations with the leading used car sales platform Cars45, creating a new pan-African car buying and selling business.

Under the agreement, Jiji, supported by Lemma Group, and Cars45 will merge their operations in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. And the merger deal promises a new level of trade experience for auto buyers and sellers across the three countries.

Jiji is a leading online marketplace in Africa. With operations across five countries, the platform attracts over 11 million unique users monthly that engage with over three million ads with a total value of over $10 billion.

The platform is currently among the most downloaded and highest-rated apps in African e-commerce.

On the other hand, Cars45 is the leading transactional car marketplace in Africa. The technology platform allows sellers and buyers of African used cars to understand condition and value and exchange cars quickly and safely.

By creating online infrastructure and digital processes in the automotive retail space, Cars45 has led the shift towards an organised auto sector in Africa. The company started in July 2016 and has helped tens of thousands of customers trade in and buy cars in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

A statement after the transaction said joining the Jiji family will allow Cars45 users to benefit from Jiji’s market-leading products in online classifieds. In turn, Cars45 will bring a unique Online-To-Offline (O2O) car buying and selling service, where cars can safely be sold instantly to dealers or via a consumer marketplace to other consumers.

The statement added that together, users in the auto sector can expect a new level of convenience in buying and selling cars, combining online and offline capabilities.

CEO and Co-founder of Jiji, Anton Volyansky, said: “We are looking forward to creating a new advanced experience for Cars45 users. Undoubtedly, our collaboration on future products and services will bring additional value to the consumers.

“For Jiji, it’s the first bold step into the transactional business model and an important foundation for building the future of the company.”

Also commenting, CFO and Member of the Strategic Board at Jiji, David Ojo, said: “Cars45’s key value for Jiji is a network of inspection centers, where all cars are inspected by 202+ parameters.

“This provides a detailed report on a car’s condition with information from various databases: police, registration, etc. All of these ultimately align with Jiji’s focus on customers’ safety and overall quality user experience.”

On his part, CEO of Cars45, Soumobroto Ganguly, said: “We are proud to have built a trusted buying and selling experience in autos. It makes sense to combine online and offline expertise. Merging with Jiji is aimed at creating a new kind of automotive retail experience for users in Africa.”

Ganguly expressed confidence that the merger deal will jointly build an African Champion in the Online-To-Offline (O2O) automotive sector. “Together we look forward to making transactions transparent and convenient for our customers, dealers and franchisees across all our current and future markets,” he added.