FlexClub South Africa Empowers Asaak’s Latin American Entry through Mexico Affiliate Acquisition

Tinashe Ruzane, the CEO and co-founder of FlexClub

In a groundbreaking move, Asaak, a pioneering fintech company hailing from Uganda, has achieved a significant milestone through its acquisition of FlexClub Mexico, thereby expanding its operations across two continents. While the precise financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed, both parties have officially confirmed the acquisition. This strategic maneuver marks Asaak’s entry into the Latin American market, reinforcing its unwavering commitment to revolutionize financial solutions for mobility workers on a global scale.

Having already attained profitability within the Ugandan market, Asaak’s acquisition of FlexClub Mexico underscores its dedication to making a substantial, long-term investment, thus marking a momentous stride towards promoting affordable financing options across emerging markets. This strategic partnership empowers Asaak to broaden its innovative credit ecosystem by collaborating with the accomplished team at FlexClub Mexico to formulate transformative financial solutions tailored for the Latin American region.

Tinashe Ruzane, the CEO and co-founder of FlexClub

Tinashe Ruzane, the CEO and co-founder of FlexClub, expressed enthusiasm about the talented FlexClub Mexico team joining forces with Asaak and contributing to their shared vision in Latin America. Ruzane emphasized that their decision to withdraw from the Mexican market arises from the necessity for enhanced focus within a challenging economic landscape, rather than a reflection of its potential. “Our departure from the Mexican market is driven by the need for sharper focus in this very challenging economic environment, not a reflection of the potential. We are excited about the opportunity for the talented FlexClub Mexico team, including Javier Serrano, Gerardo Cedano, Karen Garcia, and Emmanuel Velez, to join Asaak and contribute to their vision in Latin America,” he stated. Ruzane further affirmed that FlexClub will continue to prioritize collaboration with car rental and leasing companies in South Africa to facilitate vehicle subscriptions within the country.

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Asaak’s acquisition of FlexClub Mexico heralds a new era in mobility financing. By extending its reach into Latin America, Asaak is effectively addressing a critical gap in the financial landscape. Through this strategic partnership, Asaak intends to introduce its innovative incremental credit solutions to Mexico, offering workers more seamless access to affordable credit for their economic advancement.

Kaivan Khalid Sattar, CEO and founder of Asaak, underscored the company’s steadfast commitment to reimagining financial inclusion within the mobility financing sector. He expressed excitement about bringing African innovation to Latin America by acquiring FlexClub Mexico, which stands as a testament to Asaak’s vision of creating meaningful financial solutions that transcend borders and foster prosperity for mobility workers across emerging markets. “The vehicle is the entry point into our credit ecosystem, from which drivers can eventually access additional credit for fuel, repairs, smartphones, or other needs they may have. We’ve proven this can be done profitably at scale for our clients, both online and in person,” said Kaivan.

Founded in 2019 by Marlon Gallardo, Rudolf Vavruch, and Tinashe Ruzane, FlexClub connects customers seeking convenient access to long-term cars with partners that offer car subscriptions. The startup currently operates in South Africa and Mexico and maintains partnerships with Uber in both countries, facilitating car subscriptions for Uber drivers.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

South African Car-Rental Startup, FlexClub, Lands Additional $5m Seed

Flexclub, a South African startup that links customers seeking convenient access to long-term cars with partners that sell car subscriptions, has received an additional $5 million in funding to boost drivers’ experiences in these markets.

Tinashe Ruzane
Tinashe Ruzane

“When we first started, we were focused on phase one of our strategy, which came from our knowledge about ride-hailing drivers because of our careers at Uber,” Tinashe Ruzane said. “We wanted to help a community of ride-hailing drivers that had been excluded from accessing cars. But right now, we’ve built the product to work for anyone and not just ride-hailing drivers.”

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Here Is What You Need To Know

  • Investors in this round include Kindred Ventures — its lead investor — which had previously invested in mobility-first companies like Postmates, Uber and Virgin Hyperloop. CRE Venture Capital and Endeavor are two other venture capital firms. The round included angel investors such as Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress; Federico Ranero, the COO of KAVAK; Tariq Zaid, formerly of Shopify and Getaround; and Ron Pragides, formerly of Twitter and Salesforce.
  • In 2019, CRE Venture Capital led a $1.2 million seed round for the company.
  • This $5 million (in equity and debt) is a seed extension round, according to Ruzane, the company’s CEO, taking FlexClub’s overall investment to over $6 million. 
  • The money will be used to develop the company’s infrastructure, which prevents and reduces partners’ risk exposure, according to the company.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Founded in 2019, by Marlon Gallardo, Rudolf Vavruch and Tinashe Ruzane, FlexClub connects customers seeking convenient access to long-term cars with partners that sell car subscriptions.

The startup has operations in South Africa and Mexico. It maintains partnership with with Uber in both countries, where it helps Uber’s drivers to subscribe for cars.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

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