After Dramatic Exit from Car45, Etop Ikpe’s New Startup Acquires Cheki

A new company, Autochek, floated by the erstwhile CEO and co-founder of Car45, Etop Ikpe, has finalised an acquisition deal with ROAM Africa, owners of Cheki.

Cheki is an online marketplace for new and used cars, with footprint in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.

The deal, according to those privy to the discussions, will yield the ownership of Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana to Autochek while ROAM Africa remains the owner of Cheki Kenya.

Ikpe’s daring move comes months after exiting Car45, a popular online marketplace for buying, selling and swapping of used cars, which he helped build from the scratch. He was rumoured to have resigned from Car45 over an internal dispute that emanated from a USD400 million buyout deal that Car45’s Germany-based parent company, Frontier Car Group (FCG), entered into with OLX Group.

It was learnt that the investment by OLX was to buy out existing shareholders in FCG and its subsidiaries including Car45. This deal reportedly marred the equity arrangements; forcing some of the company’s founding executives to resign.

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Although Ikpe told WeeTracker in an interview that there is no bad blood between him and the folks at Car45, the drama that followed his exit says otherwise.

“Life is about journeys and as one journey has ended, I have begun another journey which I am very passionate about”, he said.

Business Elites Africa (BEA) previously reported that 11 staff of Car45, some of whom were top executives, resigned at the same time in August and are now said to be working at Autochek. Upon their exit, Car45 went bunkers on them with a criminal-style disclaimer published on the company’s social media platforms – the disclaimer warned members of the public not to do business with the individuals in the name of Car45.

However, with Ikpe’s fast and giant acquisition move, it is obvious that he has a solid financial backing that could position his new startup as a major competitor for Car45.