Peach Cars, the Kenyan automotive marketplace, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Japan-based The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) and other angel investors, including Shintaro Yamada, Peter Kenevan, and Hiroaki Ohta. The startup will use the money to grow the business, hire more talent and double down on Research & Development as it expands its tech solutions.
Founded by Kaoru Kaganoi and Zachary Petroni in 2020, Peach Cars aims to democratize car ownership in sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Kenya.
Peach Cars collect service fees and commissions on successful transactions between sellers and buyers. It gets additional revenue streams from providing value-add services, including administrative work for transactions on agreements, inspections, change of ownerships, secured payment and handovers.
As a result, Peach – which has sold “hundreds of cars” and is looking to launch a near-fully automated inspection centre in 2024 – currently generates over $200,000 in GMV monthly, 10x its numbers from two years ago when it launched, according to its founders.
The company says it has developed a smart engine check device that utilizes Peach’s proprietary-built software to automate its car inspection process. The 225-point inspection system, benchmarked against Japanese auto industry standards, as 80% of cars in Kenya are of Japanese make, gives a complete and accurate report of all the systems in the vehicle.
Kaoru Kaganoi co-founder and CEO of Peach Cars said: “I struggled to get affordable second-hand items, including furniture and electronics, when I moved into Kenya. I also struggled to find good condition vehicles as well as there are no established inspection methods and service providers, and you need to know a good mechanic yourself to get these quality checks done at a personal level.”
“Peach is pioneering the most customer-centric, trustworthy, and advanced used-car platform in Sub-Saharan Africa by coupling their operational excellence with smart IoT devices and data analysis,” Kiran Mysore, Principal at UTEC, who joined the startup’s board, said.
“UTEC is proud to partner with Peach and foster Japan-Africa collaboration by augmenting Peach with Japanese automotive expertise and network.”
