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Planet24 founders Eerik Oja and Marten Orgna Planet42 said it raised local-currency debt and equity funding from Standard Bank to help the South Africa-focused rent-to-buy start-up repay costly euro-denominated loans. The Naspers-backed firm, which has raised about US$150-million to date, got R300-million of funding from Standard Bank, according to Planet42 CEO and co-founder Eerik Oja. “We have had no rand-based debt so far, and that is obviously super-expensive for a business operating in South Africa,” Oja said in an interview. “This is a first step to a bigger strategic partnership for us with Standard Bank,” as the start-up ramps up car financing loans where traditional banks usually cannot finance certain individuals because of regulations, he said. Planet42 uses algorithms and data points to assess a potential customer’s credit risk Many African cities lack public transportation, pushing residents to own their vehicles or use ride-hailing services. Planet42 gets more than 60 000 applicants for its cars every month, Oja said. Uber Technologies is also in talks to back African vehicle-financing start-up Moove in a funding round that would value the company at $750-million. Co-founded by Oja and Marten Orgna — both from Estonia — Planet42 uses algorithms and data points to assess a potential customer’s credit risk and generates an offer to rent or buy a car within minutes. Rising demand helped the company boost revenue at home by 37% last year, Oja said. “In South Africa, and potentially in the rest of Africa, there is a lot of scaling up that can happen,” Standard Bank senior vice president Nimalan Reddy said in the same interview. — (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP Get breaking news alerts from TechCentral on WhatsApp
