SUMMARY
Of this, $21.4 Mn (INR 170 Cr) has been raised as equity funding and the remaining $31.4 Mn (INR 250 Cr) as debt funding
Bike Bazaar plans to use the funds to penetrate deeper into rural cities of India and also, scale its new vertical of selling and purchasing used two-wheelers
Including the current equity fundraising, Bike Bazaar claims to have secured a total of INR 400 Cr as equity funding to date
Online two-wheeler marketplace Bike Bazaar has raised $52.8 Mn (INR 420 Cr) in its ongoing Series D funding round, which is a mix of equity and debt.
Of this, $21.4 Mn (INR 170 Cr) has been raised as equity funding from Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM) and the remaining $31.4 Mn (INR 250 Cr) as debt funding from several banks as well as financial institutions in the past six months.
Bike Bazaar plans to use the funds to penetrate deeper into rural cities of India and also, scale its new vertical of selling and purchasing used two-wheelers.
Bike Bazaar is in discussions with investors to raise another INR 80 Cr as equity funding before closing the Series D round. Besides, the startup is also in talks with electric vehicle-focused funds to raise INR 200- INR 250 Cr for its financing, leasing and services business, according to the statement.
Including the current equity fundraising, Bike Bazaar claims to have secured a total of INR 400 Cr as equity funding to date.
“WAM is investing in Bike Bazaar’s demonstrated potential to provide accessible and affordable two-wheeler finance to financially underserved women in India. We are inspired by Bike Bazaar’s clear focus on increasing women ridership, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 towns and villages across India,” said Christina Juhasz, CIO of WAM.
Founded in 2017 by Srinivas Kantheti and Karunakaran Vadakkepat, WheelEMI is the parent company of the online two-wheeler marketplace Bike Bazaar. Its offerings include buying and selling used two-wheelers and financing services for new and used two-wheelers.
“Today, we have significant momentum to show with our unique direct collection model reaching 1000+ touchpoints; we also have one of the industry’s best GNPA scores and are bullish to scale. The recent fundraise is focused on cementing our position as a lifecycle services player in the two wheeler segment,” Kantheti, MD of Bike Bazaar shared.
Bike Bazaar claims to have over 1000 touchpoints and also, has a presence in over 140 Indian cities. It further asserts to have disbursed over 3 Lakh two-wheelers loans and have a gross transaction value (GTV) of over INR 1, 500 Cr to date.
Bike Bazaar said that in the financial year 2022-23, it disbursed over 1 Lakh loans worth INR 600 Cr and is presently managing a loan book of over INR 700 Cr.
In the financing segment, it competes with the likes of CWC, AutoMony, OTO Capital and Berar Finance.
According to an Inc42 report, the Indian fintech sector is anticipated to reach $1.3 Tn by 2025. Of this, lendingtech and insurtech, which are sub-sectors of fintech, have a market opportunity of $955 Mn and are likely to grow at a CAGR of 32% and 57% respectively during 2022-25.
