Estonian fintech Planet42 raises $2.6 million

Planet42, a rent-to-buy company, has raised $2.6 million in a seed round. The round was led by Change Ventures with participation from private backers such as Martin Villig, Ragnar Sass, Marko Virkebau, Kristjan Vilosius, and some other Estonian tech entrepreneurs.

Launched as CarGet in 2017 by the duo of Eerik Oja and Marten Orgna, Planet42 combines fintech and mobility services in South Africa. They are providing used cars to its customers and allowing them to purchase the vehicle after rental use.  Planet42 uses an automatic algorithm to process client applications and when the application is approved, Planet42 analyses the customer’s documents before providing the car to the customer.

Eerik Oja, co-founder and CEO, said:

“Having a personal vehicle is a necessity in South Africa, as public transport is underdeveloped while ride-hailing is prohibitively expensive for most. 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. A family car can be a lifesaver, but banks focus on newer, expensive vehicles and only approve 15% of car financing applicants. This leaves few alternatives to lower- and middle-income households.“

The company will use the funding to democratize car access in South Africa and expand the Baltic startup’s portfolio of vehicles, with the goal of renting 100,000 cars by 2024 in South Africa. To date, Planet42 has grown into one of the fastest-growing challengers in South Africa’s mobility space.