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Planet42, an Estonian fintech company dedicated to providing access to mobility to the underbanked in Africa, secures €2.2M ($2.4M) in seed round of financing
FREMONT, CA: Planet42, an Estonian fintech company dedicated to providing access to mobility to the underbanked in Africa, secures €2.2M ($2.4M) in seed round of financing.
The funding round was led by Change Ventures with participation from Martin Villig (Bolt), Ragnar Sass (Pipedrive), Marko Virkebau (MeetFrank), Kristjan Vilosius (Katana MRP), and several other Estonian tech entrepreneurs. The company intends to utilize the newly raised capital to expand its portfolio of vehicles.
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Plant42, launched as CarGet in 2017, to service the region of South Africa by EerikOja, co-founder, and CEO, and Marten Orgna, co-founder and CFO, partners with dealerships across South Africa to provide access to a personal cars to its largely underbanked clientele. Plant42 adopts an automated scoring algorithm to process the client applications depending on the credit bureau, alternative data, and affordability. If the application is approved, the company analyses the customer’s validation documents, such as IDs, Payslips, and Bank statements prior to the purchasing of the car from the dealership and renting it to the customer. The asset is fully secured with tracking technology, as well as a comprehensive and mechanical insurance plan.
“Having a personal vehicle is a necessity in South Africa, as public transport is underdeveloped while ride-hailing is prohibitively expensive for most. A family car can be a lifesaver, but banks focus on newer, expensive vehicles and only approve 15 per cent of car financing applicants. This leaves few alternatives to lower- and middle-income households,” said EerikOja, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Planet42.
“We see a huge need for people to improve their standards of living with better mobility, but a lack of options in the market to service them. More than 24 million people are credit impaired or have no access to finance in South Africa – that’s well over half of the adult population.”
The startup is eagerly looking at international expansion across major emerging markets, where it will offer motorcycles and other types of mobility, alongside cars.
“We want to help people across the world commute with ease, earn more and feel secure. No one deserves to be deprived of the opportunities something as basic as a personal vehicle brings,” said Oja.
So far, almost 2,000 vehicles have been delivered. The startup is targeting a total number of 100,000 cars to be delivered by 2024 in South Africa alone.
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