South African car subscription service Planet42 raises $100M equity, debt

Planet42, a South Africa-based car subscription company that buys used cars from dealerships and rents to customers via a subscription model, has raised $100 million in equity and debt from a wide range of investors.

Naspers, through its early-stage investment vehicle, Naspers Foundry, co-led the $15 million equity round (the SA-based investor also led Planet42’s previous $30 million round in late 2021) alongside ARS Holdings. The equity round welcomed participation from existing and new shareholders, including Rivonia Road Capital; the Los Angeles-based global alternative asset manager provided a $75 million credit facility. Planet42 also received $10 million in debt funding from private investors.

According to the company, the new financing, comprised of equity, credit facility and debt, will rapidly scale its business and provide a million cars globally to people excluded from traditional car financing.

So far, the Estonia-founded mobility startup that offers rent-to-buy car subscriptions has bought more than 12,000 cars for its customers in South Africa and Mexico. When co-founder and CEO Eerik Oja spoke to TechCrunch in an interview in December 2021, Planet42 claimed to have distributed more than 7,000 cars to customers in South Africa; according to a statement released by the company, it purchased over 5,000 vehicles in the African country in the last 12 months. Also, the six-year-old mobility startup commenced an expansion drive into Mexico last year and has delivered 250 cars to customers there.