Shekel Mobility, a B2B mobility Fintech startup that caters to car dealerships in Africa, has secured $7 million in funding to boost vehicle financing efforts in Africa.
The funding round comprised several investors which include Y Combinator, Ventures Platform, Unpopular Ventures, Rebel Fund, Maiora Capital, PageOne Lab Inc, Heirloom VC, Phoenix Investment Club, Pioneer Ventures, and some other Angel investors.
Zenith Bank, VFD Microfinance Bank, and Fluna, amongst others, also provided the debt component.
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With this new funding, Shekel Mobility will launch another product, Shekel Business to modernize the formal trading operations in the auto dealership sector.
The company’s Co-founder Benjamen Oladokun disclosed that the product is aimed towards digitalizing informal trading procedures within the auto dealership sector.
In his words,
“One of the fundamental things we’ve built is the ability to buy a car without collateral. We started out lending to dealers, but now we are looking to provide additional digital tools and physical infrastructure to reduce the cost of owning car dealerships”.
He further noted that the investment will significantly expand the company’s impact, adding that the funding round is geared towards assisting car dealers in Africa.
Founded by Benjamen Oladokun, Sanmi Olukanmi, and Valentine Mayaki, Shekel Mobility is a platform that offers a simpler, smarter, and faster way to launch and grow your car dealership locally or virtually.
The startup helps emerging businesses reach their full potential by digitizing their financial processes and providing them with access to credit. With the help of Shekel Mobility, business owners can sustain and scale their businesses.
Shekel aims to build the largest auto dealership ecosystem powering $10 billion by the year 2025. It is already financing over 1,000 car dealers in its network, and also helps to facilitate car dealers in discovering, financing, and selling cars within the African used car market. Auto dealers are the most critical stakeholders in the automobile value chain. Yet, they have been neglected up until now.
Since its launch, the Y Combinator-backed startup has facilitated transactions exceeding $56 million and has contributed to the expansion of more than 1,400 auto dealerships by enhancing their inventories and facilitating sales across 7,000 cars.
According to company data, Shekel Mobility dealers have been able to triple their sales so far by growing their inventory through access to affordable financing.
At Shekel Mobility, the company is in a mission to help auto dealerships realize their full market potential by providing them with the tools and resources they require to grow sustainably and optimally.
It also empowers businesses by providing financial and management services like credit facilities to dealers, enabling secure cross-border transactions and connections, and automating business operations while ensuring an ecosystem built with end-to-end security.