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Kavak, S.A.P.I. de C.V.
Kavak buys, reconditions, and sells used cars online, and also finances them for buyers.
Kavak is a Mexican company that sells used cars online. It buys cars from owners, checks and fixes them up, then lists them for sale on its website and app. Buyers can browse, arrange financing, and get the car delivered to their door. This is a big deal in a part of the world where buying a used car has traditionally meant haggling with a stranger, and where trust in the seller is hard to come by.
The company rose fast because it brought order to a messy market. In Mexico and much of Latin America, most used cars are sold person to person, with no inspection, no warranty, and no easy way to pay over time. Kavak added all three. It runs inspection centers and reconditioning shops, sells guarantees, and offers loans through its own financing arm. Customers pay Kavak for the car, and many pay extra in interest on the loan. Those loans are a huge part of why the business can be profitable: the car sale is thin-margin, but the financing earns real money over time. Kavak grew into one of Latin America's rare startup success stories, reaching a valuation of about $8.7 billion in 2021 and becoming Mexico's first tech "unicorn." It expanded across the region, into places like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, and it also opened small operations in the Middle East. The company makes money from three main things: selling reconditioned cars, earning fees on the financing it arranges, and selling add-on products like extended warranties and insurance.
It is not an easy business. Buying and fixing cars is capital-heavy and low-margin, and the company has burned through cash as it expanded. Kavak has cut jobs and pulled back in some markets to focus on profitability. Still, its basic bet is simple: if it can own the whole process — inspection, repair, financing, delivery — it can win the trust that the used-car market has always lacked.
Saved answer · last researched 10 Nov 2026