B2B Auto Spares Marketplace Koovers Raises Funding To Expand Its Offerings

B2B auto spares marketplace Koovers has reportedly raised $1 Mn in its pre-Series A funding round led by Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd, Rajiv M Sanghvi of PPS Group and Naveen Philip of Kuttukaran Homes. 

The round also saw participation from existing investors – Inflection Point Ventures and JPIN.

According to The Economic Times, Koovers will deploy the fresh funds to strengthen its tech infrastructure, widen its product portfolio and expand its business in India. It will also utilise the funds to foray into premium vehicle aftermarket space. 

Founded in 2016 by Vinayak, Sandeep Begur, and S Prem Kumar, Koovers is a B2B ecommerce platform that supplies auto spare parts to independent auto workshops (IWS) and the aftermarket ecosystem. 

Koovers claims to be serving around 10,000 workshops and is presently operating in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Delhi.    

Last year, it secured $1.5 Mn in its seed funding round from Inflection Point Ventures, JPIN-VCats and Venture Catalysts. 

It faces competition from the likes of GoMechanic, Mechkartz, Parts Big Boss, and Carorbis in the ecommerce auto spares industry. 

According to an IBEF report, the Indian automobile sector is the seventh-largest manufacturer of commercial automobile vehicles in the world. The sector is poised to reach $282.8 Bn (INR 18.18 Tn) by 2026. 

In recent years, the online automobile industry has seen a rapid rise, producing four unicorns – Droom, CarDekho, Cars24 and Spinny. Most of these unicorns are looking to list themselves on Indian bourses in the next two years.

In November 2021, Droom filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its IPO. It plans to raise INR 3,000 Cr through the IPO, as per the DRHP. 

However, the sector has also seen some layoffs recently. In May, Cars24 sacked around 600 employees working in lower positions across various departments. 

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