INR 4 Mn Grant Opportunity for Automotive Startups As T-Hub Ties with Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre India

With an aim to bolster the growing automotive ecosystem and support startups, T-Hub and Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI) partnered for the Open Innovation Challenge.

Along with the grant, the four winning startups will get an opportunity to pitch in front of Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI) leadership and access their global mentorship network.

T-Hub, which pioneers India’s leading innovation ecosystem, today announced its partnership with Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI), a global technical and development centre for the Open Innovation Challenge. Through this partnership, RNTBCI will partner with some of the most innovative automotive startups scouted by T-Hub. With an aim to bolster the growing automotive ecosystem, the winning startups will get an opportunity to pitch in front of RNTBCI leadership and access their global mentorship network.

The program offers the startups an opportunity to participate under four themes - First and Last Mile Connectivity, Digitisation, Mobility as a Service with social impact (MaaS) and Circular economy. Six to eight startups will be shortlisted for each theme out of which four startups will win INR 1 million grant each and receive co-working opportunities with RNTBCI.

MSR, CEO, T-Hub said, "T-Hub with our corporate partnerships aims to help startups incorporate domain expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions to the market. We are excited to partner with RNTBCI (Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India) as they bring incredible expertise in their sector and a clear focus that will help startups create breakthrough solutions for the global automotive market. Together we look forward to creating an impact for our startup community."

The program will focus on automotive space including AI, IoT, blockchain, robotic process automation (RPA), electrification, big data, AR/VR, application development, cloud-based, materials, alternative fuel etc. Growth stage startups with Minimum Viable Product (MVP) ready, in Electric vehicle (EV), Automated vehicle (AV) and Assistive technology (AT) technology, bio-based materials, internet of waste, re-use, upcycle anywhere from India, can apply for the program here.

Debashis Neogi, Managing Director, RNTBCI said, "We are glad to announce the maiden Renault Nissan Open Innovation Challenge in India in association with T-Hub. Innovation should be the topmost priority of India, as a country with lots of young talents and booming start-ups. We want to trigger the thinking! I see a great potential to create out-of-the-box and business viable solutions through this challenge."

The shortlisted startups will be able to derive diverse benefits from the program such as mentoring and learning from leaders in the automotive giants, and co-working space at T-Hub with exclusive access to state-of-art design and product development resources. They will also receive an opportunity to co-create a paid Proof of Concept (PoC) and find a new use case for their existing solutions. T-Hub will be facilitating the program through hybrid mode and provide support to the participating startups by refining pitch decks and displaying demonstrations.

Furthermore, T-Hub will bring world-class industry experts, mentors, and business scaling opportunities for shortlisted startups. The program will conclude with T-Hub and RNTBCI disbursing grants to the final four startups for the development of their Proof of Concepts (PoCs).

T-Hub (Technology Hub) is an innovation hub and ecosystem enabler. Based out of Hyderabad, India, T-Hub leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem. With a mission of enabling and empowering an ecosystem hungry for innovation, T-Hub is creating an impact for startups, corporations, and other innovation ecosystem stakeholders. Incorporated in 2015, it has provided over 1800+ national and international startups with access to better technology, talent, mentors, customers, corporates, investors, and government agencies. It has elevated innovation for leading national and global corporations, transforming their business models for the better. Working in collaboration with innovation partners and enablers in Telangana, India and worldwide, T-Hub is building a future-ready innovation ecosystem.

Media contacts: pr@T-Hub.co

Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI) is a captive automotive technology and business centre supporting Renault and Nissan globally. Established in 2007, it is in Mahindra World City, Chennai, India and employs over 8,000 employees.

Automotive Tech Startup Euler Motors to launch Electric Cargo 3-Wheeler Next Year

Automotive technology start-up Euler Motors said on Thursday it is all set to launch its light commercial vehicles, an electric cargo three wheeler, by early next year.

Around 100 prototype e-vehicles are already running on the Delhi-NCR roads and being used by e-commerce firms for their last-mile delivery besides over 70 electric vehicle charging stations, the company said in a release.

Euler Motors is working towards providing sustainable last-mile transportation by accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles. We understand the challenges of the sector," said Saurav Kumar, founder and chief executive officer, Euler Motors.

But we believe that our indigenously created battery pack and upcoming innovation in light commercial vehicle will set industry standard and thereby helping e-commerce companies, logistics providers and independent fleet owner, Kumar said.

The range of the current commercial cargo electric vehicles, the company said, are 80-100 KMs, depending on the load on the vehicles and has the total capacity to carry 500 Kgs weight.

The company carries out its research, manufacturing, and assembly from its two centres in Faridabad, Haryana and Okhla Industrial Area in New Delhi.

Founded last year, Euler Motors has so far raised USD 2 million from marquee investors like Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures and Andrew Lee to set-up the manufacturing and R&D facility, building indigenous Li-ion battery pack, among others.

The R&D team at Euler Motors is focused on building automotive-grade lithium-ion battery pack that could deliver the range required for intra-city logistics in all-weather, temperatures and road conditions, the company said.

The company currently makes Li-Ion battery pack of 5.76 KWh for its vehicles while has also parallelly set up charging and service stations, it said. PTI IAS AP

Auto Product Startup Sepal Raises Funding from SucSEED Venture

SucSEED venture partners expanding its investment horizon into automobile segment by investing into Sepal. Sepal was founded in 2017 by Vidhey Addepally and Sriram Kashyap. Sepal is aiming at making biking more enjoyable and comfortable by not letting climate dictate riders travel plan. The extended canopy coupled with the water-repellent windshield to ensure riders have a smooth and comfortable ride whether it is scorching or showering outside. Team has applied user centric design in arriving the product which can be used globally.



Founders started the idea of Sepal when Vidhey was studying at IIT Bombay. Sepal was incubated in Desai Sethi centre for entrepreneurship, IIT Bombay. SucSEED lead the investment along with few other angel investors. The investment amount will be crucial for Sepal in expanding the product development activities and penetrating the last-mile delivery market.

Commenting on the fund raise, Vidhey Addepally, co-founder of Sepal, said, “SucSEED has been helping us to prioritize the key value props of our product & streamline our efforts. This enabled us to build a very sustainable growth strategy"

Speaking on why SucSEED has invested in Sepal, Saurabh Sharma, an Active Investor, with SucSEED, said “Sepal founders bring a lot of energy along with design concepts to improve the huge two wheeler community and enhance their riding experience. India overtook China as the largest producer of two wheelers (23 million in 2017-18 alone) and if SEPAL product is received well in the market, it could be part of Custom-offering from the Bike Manufacturers too. SEPAL’s ideas on expanding this design concept to include music, news and lots of other services while riding the bike attracted me as an investor”.

Vikrant Varshney, Cofounder & Partner, SucSEED, said “Globally 2-wheeler industry amounts to $190Bn market and in India alone, we have over 200 million 2-wheelers on roads. SucSEED believes that there are extraordinary opportunities in India today in Automobile Segment due to reliance on vehicles for personal commute, various transportation & delivery needs. When it comes to an accessory like SEPAL’s, the market potential could be around $10Bn within India. Besides 2-wheeler owners using it for personal commute, there is also a growing tribe of Business delivery runners with huge focus on timely delivery of food items Domino & PizzaHut/ Zomato/ Swiggy, Grocery by Bigbasket/ Grofers, Consumables by amazon/flipkart, Documents & Couriers by Fedex/ DHL/ India Post etc. which will all get positively benefitted with this innovation, to face difficult weather conditions, if manufactured at right efficiency and marketed well.

SEPAL is one such innovation and we are impressed with energy and passion of founders who are going after ambitious plan to make bike ride safe and enjoyable. We are confident that Sepal will be household name soon"



Sepal is a collapsible canopy that can be quickly attached to any motorcycle and it forms a compact shape that has no effect on one's driving experience. When required, it can be opened in seconds to give the riders complete environmental protection from Sun, Rain, Dust and even Cold, only on-demand.

Sepal also comes integrated with a HUD, and a well-designed user-interface for safe operation. With such a platform, users can access comforts like navigation, call answering, music streaming etc. on the go!!



Team of SEPAL is led by an Engineer from IIT-Bombay and Designer from LEEDS, U.K developing a solution for an age-old problem that millions of bike riders are suffering from daily. Sepal provides all the bike riders with complete environmental protection, entirely on-demand. Also, it comes with a connected mobility platform to provides users with all the IOT comforts present in modern cars.

Market Potential in this space
The 2-wheeler industry of India is the largest worldwide. Within India itself there are over 200 million 2-wheelers on roads. And world-wide, the 2-wheeler industry amounts to $190Bn market.

When it comes to an after-market accessory like SEPAL’s, the market potential could be around $10Bn within India. Given the criticality of the problem SEPAL is addressing, we hope to capture a big chunk of this multi-billion-dollar market potential.

Automobile Parts Startup SparesHub Raises ₹3.5 Cr from Indian Angel Network

Indian Angel Network, Asia’s largest network of Angel investors, has invested Rs. 3.5 crore in Pune-based start-up SparesHub, an automobile parts start-up. SparesHub will utilise the funds for its geographical expansion and to strengthen its technology capabilities. The funding was led by Indian Angel members Neeraj Garg, Harsh Gandhi, and Ankur Agarwal.

Prior to this funding, SparesHub raised Rs.40 lakhs from The Chennai Angels in July 2017.

Founded by Tapas P. Gupta and Arijit A. Chakraborty, the SparesHub team currently comprises 27 employees. It solves the problem of the unavailability of, and over-expensive, automobile parts which result in a significant loss of time, money, and efforts for car owners in India. Since its inception, SparesHub has been working to disintermediate and digitize the automobile parts industry in India. To this end, it is introducing modern supply chain and logistics methodologies in the industry, and caters to B2B customers.

SparesHub works with India’s leading car companies and part manufacturers to make OEM and OES parts available to its customers (multi-brand service centres, service aggregators, fleet owners and insurance companies). Existing investor Holomua Group Inc, also participated in the investment round.

Padmaja Ruparel, President and Co-founder of Indian Angel Network, added, “The decision to invest in SparesHub was taken after a careful assessment of the business, the team’s vision, and its strategy to achieve the same. The company has the makings of a modern tech-based venture, with a unique business model, a strong technological framework, a product that fills a major gap in the market, and of course, a strong team. We are confident that the team will continue to enhance its product and build its USP, and emerge as one of the leading players in its domain.”

Tapas Gupta – CEO of SparesHub, commented, “Our mission is to create a whole new level of customer delight by leveraging technology. SparesHub is challenging the traditional methodologies and bringing in global best practices in the automobile parts supply chain and logistics domain. We are truly grateful for the funding from Indian Angel Network and the faith they have shown in our business model, and we hope for a long and fruitful collaboration with the Network.”

To recall, in December Gurgaon-based boodmo.com, an online marketplace for automotive spare parts, had raised funding of INR 7 Crores from an undisclosed source.

Indian Angel Network invests in early-stage businesses, which have the potential to create disruption. The members of the network are leaders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem with strong operational experience as CEOs or a background of creating new and successful ventures. IAN goes beyond the normal, informal, local club structure of angel groups to a larger institutionalized model because of its nimble but robust, standardized, and transparent processes that allow it to scale across geographies and a large number of members.

Automation Startup Zinier Raises $22 Mn from Accel, Founders Fund and NGP Capital

Zinier, a leading provider of intelligent field service automation, today announced that it has raised $22 million in Series B funding to accelerate global growth and expand its platform to meet the growing needs of field service organizations. Returning investor Accel led the round, along with Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures LLC and returning France-based investor Newfund.

The investment
coincides with the field service industry’s shift toward digitization.
As companies continue to embrace digital transformation, today’s
technologies help them quickly understand the “what,
when and where” of a field service request. However, these technologies
do not provide the deep layer of intelligence required to drive
operational efficiency. As a result, while field service organizations
are able to collect massive streams of the data in
the field, they aren’t able to utilize that data to increase
productivity, reduce costs and boost customer satisfaction.

Built on Zinier’s pure-play, AI-driven platform, Field Service Elements delivers this missing intelligence. The solution combines artificial intelligence and proactive insights to automate critical back office functions while providing an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience for field technicians. Imagine smart devices that can monitor equipment health and historical data to automatically trigger a preventative service request and assign it to the nearest qualified technician. All of this is possible with intelligent automation.

“Considering the
massive amount of infrastructure under the purview of field service
teams, automated field service has the potential to truly transform a
wide range of industries,” said Arka Dhar, co-founder
and CEO of Zinier. “The market opportunity for platform-based,
automated field service is reflected in the huge demand we’ve seen from
customers in infrastructure-heavy sectors, such as telecom, energy and
financial services. With this additional investment,
we’re able to continue expanding the capabilities of our platform and
extend the reach of intelligent field service automation to new
strategic markets and geographies.”    

Zinier will use the investment to:

• 
  Continue developing and
  enhancing its technology platform to build out-of-the-box solutions for
  industry-specific customer use cases
• 
  Further expand into new
  regions (Zinier currently operates in North America, LATAM and APAC) and
  vertical markets (Zinier currently focuses on the telecom and energy
  industries)
• 
  Build out its global team to continue supporting Zinier’s rapidly growing customer base with the industry’s best talent

This investment underscores Zinier’s exponential growth over the past year. In 2018, led by a leadership team with decades of experience and expertise from ServiceMax, Salesforce, AT&T and Singtel, Zinier launched Field Service Elements behind a Series A funding round. These milestones enabled the company to add several of the largest global telecommunications providers to its customer roster, and positions Zinier for significant growth in 2019 and beyond.

“Field service management
has plenty of room for improvement. However, injecting intelligent
automation across the entire field service delivery chain allows for
significantly reshaping the landscape and capturing
even larger value,” said Dinesh Katiyar, Partner at Accel. “Zinier's
AI-driven field service automation platform has resonated with customers
in the telco sector, and our re-investment in the company is a
testament to the technology’s potential in other high-growth
markets.”

“Field service
organizations suffer from the same issue facing many sectors: the amount
of data being collected outstrips companies’ ability to make use of it.
Zinier’s intelligent automation technology
is directly addressing this problem for an industry in which the pace
of innovation over the past 20 years has been glacial,” said Trae
Stephens, Partner at Founders Fund.

NGP Capital said on its investment, “Field service organizations are still primarily run manually, with lack of automation and real-time visibility into the field work. Having reviewed the Field Service software industry extensively, we were impressed by Zinier’s platform, which enhances workflow automation with predictive intelligence and a delightful user experience," said Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital. "Zinier enables companies to draw meaningful insights from data to automate their processes and drive efficiency, which is the ultimate promise of IoT. We look forward to working with Arka and his team to help scale their business in the Telecom sector and beyond."

Qualcomm Ventures, said, “We were impressed with Zinier’s novel approach to proactive field maintenance, using IoT to increase productivity through automation and intelligence," said Varsha Tagare, Sr. Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India. “Their end-to-end field service automation solution will help companies work smarter and faster while also enabling a more efficient deployment of 5G services worldwide.”

About Zinier

Zinier is an intelligent field service automation platform that helps organizations work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Zinier’s end-to-end solution, Field Service Elements, uses artificial intelligence, proactive insights, and an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience to supercharge every aspect of an organization’s field service operations, from the back office all the way to the field. Zinier has international offices in Silicon Valley, Mexico City, Singapore, and Bengaluru.

CarDekho Raises $110 Mn from Sequoia, Hillhouse and CapitalG

Jaipur headquartered automobile classified portal CarDekho.com has raised $110 million in Series C round of funding from Sequoia India, Hillhouse, CapitalG , the investment arm of Google's parent Alphabet, and Axis Bank.

Cardekho intends to utilize the raised funds in the used-car business, insurance and finance verticals. With latest fundraise, the comany's total funding currently stands at $185 million.

The startup works directly with more than eight car and motorcycle manufacturers that make up for 15-30% of their combined annual sales. CarDekho works with 5,000 dealerships across India. In addition, it works in collaboration with over 10 financial institutions across the country to facilitate used car financing.

“Our used-cars engine has scaled up tremendously and has also enabled us to incubate allied businesses like insurance and finance as they are one of the largest opportunities ahead of us,” Jain said.

The opportunity lies in extending formal credit and insurance coverage to the new-to-formal economy population and will continue to be a focus area for the company, he added.

Launched in 2008 by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain Cardelho also has a presence in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia under the brand names of ZigWheels and OTO (in Indonesia). The company is reportedly valued close to $500 million however exact value couldn’t be ascertained.

CarDekho raised funding from Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata in 2015. Along with its other group sites like ZigWheels, Gaadi, PowerDrift and BikdeDekho, CarDekho competes with companies including Droom, Cars24, CarTrade, OLX and Quikr.

In 2015, Carekho become a pioneer in introducing specialised portals like TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com and CollegeDekho.com.

Cardekho has also made quite a few acquisitions including acquisition of Gaadi.com in 2014 and Zigwheels in 2015. In August last year, Cardekho's parent Girnarsoft acquired PowerDrift, an India’s largest YouTube channel for automotive content.

Girnar Software has also acquired Buying IQ (shopping engine), Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels, road side assistance startup.

According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the market for used car in India might hit $75-billion mark by 2023, with a CAGR of 15.2% during the forecast period of 2018-2023.

Source - Financial Express

CarDekho Acquires Youtube Channel PowerDrift

In yet another strategic move, Jaipur Headquartered Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates India’s largest auto portals CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com and BikeDekho.com has announced the acquisition of PowerDrift Studios Private Limited, popularly known as PowerDrift. PowerDrift is India’s largest YouTube channel for automotive content and is on the verge of being the only automotive channel on YouTube to reach a million subscribers. This makes Girnarsoft group the largest automotive video content player reaching out to 1.4 million subscribers.

Founded in 2012 by Rohan Albal and Amit Shetty, PowerDrift is a new age rich media content creation company that specialises in creating unique lifestyle and engaging video content for consumers and enthusiasts of cars and motorcycles in India. Awarded with the 'Best Auto Content Creator - All India' award at the Social Media Summit 2018, PowerDrift's content has been an amalgamation of sound understanding of cars and motorcycles and the subtle art of filmmaking. Surpassing all the industry giants and conventional auto shows in near half the number of Videos and half the time, PowerDrift today clocks in 10million+ views monthly and has gone on to become a cult as India’s most favourite auto show.

In just a span of five years since its inception, PowerDrift has dominated the video content space in the country with more than 240 million lifetime views on its YouTube channel with an average of 2 lakh views per video. Importance of Video content is underlined by the Google – Kantar TNS study, which states that 80 % of car buyers watch online video during their car buying journey.

PowerDrift is Girnar Software’s 8th acquisition spanning across technology and content space. Aiming to digitize the entire auto ecosystem of the country, GirnarSoft has become largest automotive video content player with 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, largest consumer facing digital destination with 30 million monthly unique visitors coming on group sites and largest auto social media platform in the country.

Speaking on the Acquisition, Amit Jain, Co-founder and CEO, CarDekho said, “These are exciting times. CarDekho has always innovated and focussed on providing the best user experience. Content plays an extremely important role in that. By bringing PowerDrift on board, I am convinced that this acquisition will prove to be a game-changer. We will come up with the best in class video content, which will be a visual treat and decision enabler for all stakeholders. I welcome each one from PowerDrift on-board and look forward to a power-packed innings!”

Rohal Albal, Co-Founder and CEO, PowerDrift said, “Showcasing Indian motoring in a unique and world class way has been the founding principle of PowerDrift. This alliance enables us in creating more exciting content, but also offers great value to our viewers. With our strengths compounded, I can’t wait for an even bigger, more exciting automotive future for India”.

Girnar Software is one of India’s leading consumer internet companies. The group runs India’s largest auto sites - CarDekho.com, Zigwheels.com, BikeDekho.com and Gaadi.com. The company is also a pioneer in introducing specialised portals like TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com and CollegeDekho.com. GirnarSoft went international in 2015 with an auto site CarBay.com in multiple countries in Asia and Middle East. It also launched OTO.com in Indonesia which has become the number one auto site. Girnar Software has acquired Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com, Buying IQ (shopping engine), Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels, road side assistance startup.

Girnar Software has raised funding from Marquee investors which include Google Capital, Tybourne Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, HDFC Bank, Ratan Tata and Times Internet. The company is currently valued at USD 380 million.The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2021 with global footprint.

CarDekho Acquires Youtube Channel PowerDrift

In yet another strategic move, Jaipur Headquartered Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates India’s largest auto portals CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com and BikeDekho.com has announced the acquisition of PowerDrift Studios Private Limited, popularly known as PowerDrift. PowerDrift is India’s largest YouTube channel for automotive content and is on the verge of being the only automotive channel on YouTube to reach a million subscribers. This makes Girnarsoft group the largest automotive video content player reaching out to 1.4 million subscribers.

Founded in 2012 by Rohan Albal and Amit Shetty, PowerDrift is a new age rich media content creation company that specialises in creating unique lifestyle and engaging video content for consumers and enthusiasts of cars and motorcycles in India. Awarded with the 'Best Auto Content Creator - All India' award at the Social Media Summit 2018, PowerDrift's content has been an amalgamation of sound understanding of cars and motorcycles and the subtle art of filmmaking. Surpassing all the industry giants and conventional auto shows in near half the number of Videos and half the time, PowerDrift today clocks in 10million+ views monthly and has gone on to become a cult as India’s most favourite auto show.

In just a span of five years since its inception, PowerDrift has dominated the video content space in the country with more than 240 million lifetime views on its YouTube channel with an average of 2 lakh views per video. Importance of Video content is underlined by the Google – Kantar TNS study, which states that 80 % of car buyers watch online video during their car buying journey.

PowerDrift is Girnar Software’s 8th acquisition spanning across technology and content space. Aiming to digitize the entire auto ecosystem of the country, GirnarSoft has become largest automotive video content player with 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, largest consumer facing digital destination with 30 million monthly unique visitors coming on group sites and largest auto social media platform in the country.

Speaking on the Acquisition, Amit Jain, Co-founder and CEO, CarDekho said, “These are exciting times. CarDekho has always innovated and focussed on providing the best user experience. Content plays an extremely important role in that. By bringing PowerDrift on board, I am convinced that this acquisition will prove to be a game-changer. We will come up with the best in class video content, which will be a visual treat and decision enabler for all stakeholders. I welcome each one from PowerDrift on-board and look forward to a power-packed innings!”

Rohal Albal, Co-Founder and CEO, PowerDrift said, “Showcasing Indian motoring in a unique and world class way has been the founding principle of PowerDrift. This alliance enables us in creating more exciting content, but also offers great value to our viewers. With our strengths compounded, I can’t wait for an even bigger, more exciting automotive future for India”.

Girnar Software is one of India’s leading consumer internet companies. The group runs India’s largest auto sites - CarDekho.com, Zigwheels.com, BikeDekho.com and Gaadi.com. The company is also a pioneer in introducing specialised portals like TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com and CollegeDekho.com. GirnarSoft went international in 2015 with an auto site CarBay.com in multiple countries in Asia and Middle East. It also launched OTO.com in Indonesia which has become the number one auto site. Girnar Software has acquired Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com, Buying IQ (shopping engine), Drishya360s (virtual reality), Volob Technologies (AR-VR focused visual communications), Connecto (SaaS start-up), Help on Wheels, road side assistance startup.

Girnar Software has raised funding from Marquee investors which include Google Capital, Tybourne Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, HDFC Bank, Ratan Tata and Times Internet. The company is currently valued at USD 380 million.The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2021 with global footprint.

Gurgaon-based Auto Spare Parts E-Tailer Boodmo.com Raises Additional ₹5 Crores in FDI

GUrgaon-based Boodmo, which is India’s fastest growing online marketplace for automobile spare parts, has raised its share capital with an additional INR 5 Crores worth of investment through FDI from an undisclosed investor. Founded in 2015 by Yevgen Sokolnikov and Oleksandr Danylenko, two entrepreneurs from Ukraine, boodmo started selling car spare parts on its website in January 2017.

Founded in 2015 by two Ukrainian entrepreneurs - Oleksandr Danylenko and Yevgen Sokolnikov, Boodmo aims to revolutionize the auto components industry in India by facilitating online sale of automobile components from vendors to customers. The enterprise has so far attracted INR 20 crores in FDI.

Speaking on the fresh investments, Yevgen Sokolnikov, Co-Founder & CEO of boodmo, said, “We are continuously upgrading our services to make space for online sales in the Indian auto components industry. In just eighteen months of sales operations, we have made a tremendous progress, with volumes of fresh orders increasing continuously. With these fresh funds, we plan to strengthen the existing operations, along with the realization of our expansion plans.”

He added, “We already have a Sorting Hub in Delhi and will soon be launching the second bigger Sorting Hub in Jaipur. We are also actively looking for an appropriate space for a Sorting Hub in Maharashtra as we have an extensive customer base in the state. Going forward, we will expand these facilities in more Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities across India.” boodmo.com is expanding its sorting hubs nationally to increase the delivery speed by checking and packing goods closer to vendors and customers.

A unit of Smart Parts Online Private Limited, boodmo has a comprehensive database of genuine and aftermarket replacement parts. In a short span of time, boodmo has collated a massive e-repository of genuine OEM and aftermarket car spare parts, offering over 1 million varieties of spares offered by 400 suppliers of over 3,000 Indian as well as international brands.

Sometimes it becomes very difficult for car owners to find replacement parts in dispersed and unorganized market. boodmo.com aims to become a trusted channel for both car owners and auto spare parts dealers to come under one roof in order to reap the maximum benefits out of it. Customers can find the required automotive components using its online catalogue and can make their search through VIN, brand or part number. The enterprise aims to organize and standardize the Indian automobile spare parts marketand make it more dynamic and transparent for all the stakeholders.

To recall, last month Pune-based SparesHub.com, a similar automobiles parts online marketplace, raised Rs. 40 lakhs from the Chennai Angels. The startup is catering to the requirements of car parts of independent multi-brand workshops and car owners across India.

[Top Image - yourstory.com]

Gurgaon-based Auto Spare Parts E-Tailer Boodmo.com Raises Additional ₹5 Crores in FDI

GUrgaon-based Boodmo, which is India’s fastest growing online marketplace for automobile spare parts, has raised its share capital with an additional INR 5 Crores worth of investment through FDI from an undisclosed investor. Founded in 2015 by Yevgen Sokolnikov and Oleksandr Danylenko, two entrepreneurs from Ukraine, boodmo started selling car spare parts on its website in January 2017.

Founded in 2015 by two Ukrainian entrepreneurs - Oleksandr Danylenko and Yevgen Sokolnikov, Boodmo aims to revolutionize the auto components industry in India by facilitating online sale of automobile components from vendors to customers. The enterprise has so far attracted INR 20 crores in FDI.

Speaking on the fresh investments, Yevgen Sokolnikov, Co-Founder & CEO of boodmo, said, “We are continuously upgrading our services to make space for online sales in the Indian auto components industry. In just eighteen months of sales operations, we have made a tremendous progress, with volumes of fresh orders increasing continuously. With these fresh funds, we plan to strengthen the existing operations, along with the realization of our expansion plans.”

He added, “We already have a Sorting Hub in Delhi and will soon be launching the second bigger Sorting Hub in Jaipur. We are also actively looking for an appropriate space for a Sorting Hub in Maharashtra as we have an extensive customer base in the state. Going forward, we will expand these facilities in more Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities across India.” boodmo.com is expanding its sorting hubs nationally to increase the delivery speed by checking and packing goods closer to vendors and customers.

A unit of Smart Parts Online Private Limited, boodmo has a comprehensive database of genuine and aftermarket replacement parts. In a short span of time, boodmo has collated a massive e-repository of genuine OEM and aftermarket car spare parts, offering over 1 million varieties of spares offered by 400 suppliers of over 3,000 Indian as well as international brands.

Sometimes it becomes very difficult for car owners to find replacement parts in dispersed and unorganized market. boodmo.com aims to become a trusted channel for both car owners and auto spare parts dealers to come under one roof in order to reap the maximum benefits out of it. Customers can find the required automotive components using its online catalogue and can make their search through VIN, brand or part number. The enterprise aims to organize and standardize the Indian automobile spare parts marketand make it more dynamic and transparent for all the stakeholders.

To recall, last month Pune-based SparesHub.com, a similar automobiles parts online marketplace, raised Rs. 40 lakhs from the Chennai Angels. The startup is catering to the requirements of car parts of independent multi-brand workshops and car owners across India.

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Automobile Aftermarket Platform GoBumpr Raises $600K Funding via Chennai Angels and Keiretsu Forum

Chennai-based automobile aftermarket platform, GoBumpr, has raised around $600k in Pre-Series A funding led by the existing investors - The Chennai Angels (TCA), Keiretsu Forum and individual investors. The investment round was led by Mr. Vinod Kumar Dasari (MD, Ashok Leyland) and saw participation from Shankar V (Director, Acsys Investments), Ramaraj R (Founding Member, Elevar Advisors), Priyamvada Balaji (Wholetime Director, Lucas Indian Service) from TCA to name a few. Ramesh Mangaleswaran (Senior Partner, McKinsey) and Gopal Mahadevan (CFO, Ashok Leyland) have also invested in the company as part of this round. Earlier, GoBumpr raised $420K in Jan 2017 in their first round of investment.

Started in Oct 2015 by IIM grads Karthik Venkateswaran, Nandha Kumar Ravi and Sundar Natesan, GoBumpr leverages mobile technology to standardize and automate the ~ 80% unorganized automobile after-sales market ($10bn in annual revenue). Currently, GoBumpr, is India’s largest player in the online automobile services aggregation space in terms of number of workshops getting business via the platform and the number of daily service transactions. GoBumpr currently active in Bangalore and Chennai, does 7000+ B2C transactions monthly servicing INR 3 Crore in billing value. GoBumpr earns commission on the business generated to it’s partner workshops.

“GoBumpr has scaled the B2C service business across 2 major metro cities delivering value to both workshops and vehicle owners. Beyond being able to deliver quality business to workshops, GoBumpr’s ability to become an overall technology platform in the automobile aftermarket tapping multiple revenue streams is the key to emerging as winner in this space. Beyond services, extension of GoBumpr’s platform to spares, tyres, accessories, used cars has worked really well for the company and this overall aftermarket tech platform will be a boon to the industry “said Mr. Vinod Kumar Dasari (MD, Ashok Leyland) who has invested in the company in both the funding rounds.

“GoBumpr, though started as servicing platform, has now evolved into a much bigger play with the extension of their tech interface to tyres, batteries, spares, used cars etc. This allows GoBumpr to be a one stop shop for all of the car owners need and also for the workshop owners to get their inventories in place. GoBumpr’s branding of their premium workshops (similar to OYO rooms) and 100% capacity fulfillment is a game changer for the company” said Mr. Mahalingam K (Partner, TSM Group) who has invested in GoBumpr in both the rounds and advises the core team.

“We have established presence and scaled GoBumpr services in Bangalore & Chennai in the last 12 months. With our success in these two metros, we are confident of scaling the platform not only to other metros but also to other businesses within the automobile aftermarket. As such automobile is one of the oldest industries and at GoBumpr, we are keen to digitize the after-market space and be India’s most trusted auto commerce solution for consumers” said Mr. Karthik Venkateswaran of GoBumpr.

Commenting on GoBumpr’s AI powered Smart Service, “We are working on AI enabled platform leveraging data from OBD and existing service records of the car owner to provide tech enabled smart service assistance to car owners. This would significantly disrupt the way vehicle owners and workshops diagnose repairs and handle service” said Nandha Kumar Ravi, who heads the overall operations for GoBumpr.

Also Read - 10 Notable Digital Automobile-Based Startups In India Right Now

GoBumpr is a 'go-to' pitstop for end-to-end car and bike service needs right from regular servicing, repair jobs, body works – denting, tinkering & painting to 24*7 on-road assistance. GoBumpr.com also provides door-step car wash, engine oil change, tyres and battery replacement services at door step. With over 2.5Lakh+ customers and 2500+ service workshops in their platform, GoBumpr transforms the automobile servicing process into a seamless & hassle-free experience with real-time tracking of vehicle service status till payment and delivery. GoBumpr also provides automated service reminders to vehicle owners. GoBumpr is currently available in Chennai & Bangalore and would soon be available in other metro cities.

The Chennai Angels, which was founded in the year 2007, is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Last year, it had invested Rs. 40 lakhs in Iradium Automobiles Private Limited, which owns and manages SparesHub.com, an online marketplace of automobiles parts through which anyone can buy and sell automobiles parts throughout India.

To recall, Gurgaon-based online marketplace for used automobiles and auto services, DROOM had recently raised $30 million from Toyota Tsusho Corp, a subsidiary of world's largest automaker Toyota.

Automobile Aftermarket Platform GoBumpr Raises $600K Funding via Chennai Angels and Keiretsu Forum

Chennai-based automobile aftermarket platform, GoBumpr, has raised around $600k in Pre-Series A funding led by the existing investors - The Chennai Angels (TCA), Keiretsu Forum and individual investors. The investment round was led by Mr. Vinod Kumar Dasari (MD, Ashok Leyland) and saw participation from Shankar V (Director, Acsys Investments), Ramaraj R (Founding Member, Elevar Advisors), Priyamvada Balaji (Wholetime Director, Lucas Indian Service) from TCA to name a few. Ramesh Mangaleswaran (Senior Partner, McKinsey) and Gopal Mahadevan (CFO, Ashok Leyland) have also invested in the company as part of this round. Earlier, GoBumpr raised $420K in Jan 2017 in their first round of investment.

Started in Oct 2015 by IIM grads Karthik Venkateswaran, Nandha Kumar Ravi and Sundar Natesan, GoBumpr leverages mobile technology to standardize and automate the ~ 80% unorganized automobile after-sales market ($10bn in annual revenue). Currently, GoBumpr, is India’s largest player in the online automobile services aggregation space in terms of number of workshops getting business via the platform and the number of daily service transactions. GoBumpr currently active in Bangalore and Chennai, does 7000+ B2C transactions monthly servicing INR 3 Crore in billing value. GoBumpr earns commission on the business generated to it’s partner workshops.

“GoBumpr has scaled the B2C service business across 2 major metro cities delivering value to both workshops and vehicle owners. Beyond being able to deliver quality business to workshops, GoBumpr’s ability to become an overall technology platform in the automobile aftermarket tapping multiple revenue streams is the key to emerging as winner in this space. Beyond services, extension of GoBumpr’s platform to spares, tyres, accessories, used cars has worked really well for the company and this overall aftermarket tech platform will be a boon to the industry “said Mr. Vinod Kumar Dasari (MD, Ashok Leyland) who has invested in the company in both the funding rounds.

“GoBumpr, though started as servicing platform, has now evolved into a much bigger play with the extension of their tech interface to tyres, batteries, spares, used cars etc. This allows GoBumpr to be a one stop shop for all of the car owners need and also for the workshop owners to get their inventories in place. GoBumpr’s branding of their premium workshops (similar to OYO rooms) and 100% capacity fulfillment is a game changer for the company” said Mr. Mahalingam K (Partner, TSM Group) who has invested in GoBumpr in both the rounds and advises the core team.

“We have established presence and scaled GoBumpr services in Bangalore & Chennai in the last 12 months. With our success in these two metros, we are confident of scaling the platform not only to other metros but also to other businesses within the automobile aftermarket. As such automobile is one of the oldest industries and at GoBumpr, we are keen to digitize the after-market space and be India’s most trusted auto commerce solution for consumers” said Mr. Karthik Venkateswaran of GoBumpr.

Commenting on GoBumpr’s AI powered Smart Service, “We are working on AI enabled platform leveraging data from OBD and existing service records of the car owner to provide tech enabled smart service assistance to car owners. This would significantly disrupt the way vehicle owners and workshops diagnose repairs and handle service” said Nandha Kumar Ravi, who heads the overall operations for GoBumpr.

Also Read - 10 Notable Digital Automobile-Based Startups In India Right Now

GoBumpr is a 'go-to' pitstop for end-to-end car and bike service needs right from regular servicing, repair jobs, body works – denting, tinkering & painting to 24*7 on-road assistance. GoBumpr.com also provides door-step car wash, engine oil change, tyres and battery replacement services at door step. With over 2.5Lakh+ customers and 2500+ service workshops in their platform, GoBumpr transforms the automobile servicing process into a seamless & hassle-free experience with real-time tracking of vehicle service status till payment and delivery. GoBumpr also provides automated service reminders to vehicle owners. GoBumpr is currently available in Chennai & Bangalore and would soon be available in other metro cities.

The Chennai Angels, which was founded in the year 2007, is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Last year, it had invested Rs. 40 lakhs in Iradium Automobiles Private Limited, which owns and manages SparesHub.com, an online marketplace of automobiles parts through which anyone can buy and sell automobiles parts throughout India.

To recall, Gurgaon-based online marketplace for used automobiles and auto services, DROOM had recently raised $30 million from Toyota Tsusho Corp, a subsidiary of world's largest automaker Toyota.

Online Education Company Coursera Appoints Raghav Gupta as India Country Director

Coursera, the world’s leading online education company, has appointed Raghav Gupta as India Country Director. In this role, Raghav will play a strategic role in deepening Coursera’s investment in India with a focus on expanding the company’s workforce development initiatives and partnerships with the country’s top employers. India is Coursera’s largest market outside of the US with over 2 million registered learners. Until recently, Raghav was the India Country Manager at BlaBlaCar, an inter-city carpooling service.

A strategic and entrepreneurial business leader, Raghav comes with nearly two decades of experience across the consumer, internet, and management consulting industries in India, South-east Asia, and Europe. He helped launched BlaBlaCar in India and previously worked as a consultant at Booz & Co. and Technopak Advisors. Raghav holds a Master’s in Business Administration from INSEAD.

Commenting on Raghav’s appointment, Leah Belsky, Vice President of Global Enterprise Development, said, “We are excited to appoint Raghav to lead our growth in India, a country where online education offers tremendous promise. He strongly shares our vision for a world where education is accessible to everyone. Coursera has already touched millions in India, but that number is tiny compared to a vast majority of Indians who have yet to experience our platform. Raghav’s experience in helping technology companies accelerate their growth and impact in India will be invaluable.”

Speaking about his appointment, Raghav Gupta said, “In a country where education remains one of the most powerful tools of career and social mobility, Coursera brings the world’s best education within the reach of most Indians. Young Indians need high quality and affordable avenues to learn high demand skills, and I look forward to working with both companies and the government in helping them manage skills-gap challenges. It’s exciting to be part of a company that is impacting the lives of millions through access to high quality education.”

Mr. Kabir Chadha who previously headed Coursera’s efforts in India has moved to company headquarters in Mountain View.