TVS Group acquires CheckGaadi.com

TVS & Sons Group has acquired Bengaluru headquartered CheckGaadi.com, a provider of vehicle inspection technology and CRM solutions. CheckGaadi was founded in January 2015. The startup provides hassle free “vehicle inspection services” for 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers vehicles. It also provides bike-servicing on its platform.

With this move, proprietary technology of CheckGaadi will be transferred to TVS. It will continue business operations as part of TVS. CheckGaadi scaled up to a team size of 30 across 11 major cities serving close to 75,000 customers till date. The CheckGaadi customer engagement solution relies on predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms.

It makes use of vehicle health information to make predictions about its future and automatically determines the best time and context to connect with the customer. On the other hand, the TVS Group is a leading supplier of automotive components. The automobile market in India is pegged at $125 Billion. Out of which, $100 Billion is the estimated share of automobile sale and remaining $25 Billion including services. It is expected to grow at a rate of about 10% to a whopping $225 Billion by 2020.

In May 2017, Mumbai-based online automobile classifieds platform, CarTrade’s parent company MXC Solutions, acquired vehicle inspection and valuation venture Adroit Inspection in an all-cash deal. In June 2017, Gurugram - based used car marketplace Spinny raised $1 Mn Seed funding led by Blume Ventures, Indian Angel Network, and FreeCharge. Other startups that work in this segment apart from CheckGaadi include Droom, CarWale, MahindraFirstChoice, Carnation, CarDekho, CarTrade, along with some classifieds players such as Quikr and OLX.

CarTrade acquires Adroit Inspection

MSC Solutions, which owns online automobile classifieds platform CarTrade, has acquired vehicle inspection in an all-cash deal more than a year after buying rival CarWale.

The acquisition was made about three months after the Mumbai-based company raised $55 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by its existing backer Temasek and a US-based family office, whose name was not disclosed. Adroit Inspection is the country’s largest auto inspection company and is expected to inspect 1 Million vehicles this year.

Adroit Inspection undertakes inspection and valuation of automobiles for clients including banks, insurance companies, and non-banking finance companies. Adroit Inspection claims to have over 300 inspectors across the country. In November 2015, it acquired rival CarWale from German media conglomerate Axel Springer for an estimated $90-$100 million, a transaction primarily funded by its $145million equity financing round led by Temasek Holdings, the government of Singapore-owned Investment Company, US-based investment firm March Capital and Warburg Pincus.

CarDekho, which is backed by Hillhouse Capital, Google Capital, and Sequoia Capital, has made about nine acquisitions over two years. According to industry estimates, India's automobile sector, including services, is the third-largest in the world, valued at about $125 billion, and is expected to touch $250 billion by 2020. The online segment currently contributes less than 1% to the overall figure and is expected to expand to 8% over three to four years. 

Quikr Acquires Stepni

Online classifieds platform Quikr India Pvt. Ltd has acquired Stepni, a Bengaluru based start-up that connects vehicle owners with service providers for an undisclosed amount. Quikr has been driving a verticalization exercise, under which the company is focusing on five key business segments – automobiles, real estate, jobs, services, and customer-to-customer sales.

The acquisition of Stepni is expected to help Quikr strengthen car-related services under the QuikrCars vertical, as well as boost its services business, QuikrServices. Stepni, founded in October 2015, claims to have a network of more than 125 service centres across Bangalore. As a classified portal, Quikr has just one rival, OLX, which is backed by Naspers Ltd, a South African Mass media company.

In car segment, Quikr competes with the likes of Warburg Pincus backed CarTrade, which has so far raised at least $185 Million from investors, and CarDekho, which has raised at least $90 Million from Sequoia Capital and Google Capital. The real estate segment has businesses such as Housing, Magicbricks, PropTiger and others. Similarly, the Hyperlocal services segment has deep pocketed start-ups such as Housejoy and UrbanClap, while in the jobs category, the likes of Babajob and Aassan Jobs compete with Quikr.

Quikr is growing beyond a listing platform to a one-stop shop for used goods by enabling payments on its platform, as well as facilitating logistics, a move likely to throw open additional revenue channels at a time when a slowdown in external funding is prompting start-ups to reduce cash burn and focus on profitability. The company has been investing aggressively to build the five verticals by both acquiring companies and making strategic investments.

CarTrade buys CarWale

The auto market in India is both huge and disorganized. A number of well-funded online portals have come up in recent times to connect sellers with buyers more efficiently in this chaotic market. But now consolidation is under way as competition gets intense.

Online automobile classifieds firm CarTrade has acquired rival CarWale from German Media conglomerate Axel Springer signaling the rising consolidation in the industry segment. This comes soon after another major player in this space; CarDekho announced the acquisition of Times Internet Zigwheels. Earlier it had acquired another portal called Gaadi from the Ibibo group.

CarTrade buyout of CarWale comes a year after it raised $30 Million in a funding round led by Warburg Pincus and Chip Perry. In November 2013, CarDekho parent company Girnar raised $15 Million in a Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital. In January 2015, it raised its big Series B round of $50 Million from Chinese investment management firm Hillhouse Capital and Hong Kong based hedge fund Tybourne Capital.

Indian Tycoon Ratan Tata had also pumped in an undisclosed amount into the company. In May, another undisclosed round of funding came from private sector lender HDFC Bank. With all the money in the bank, CarDekho has some serious muscle to flex in its tussle         with CarTrade.