point
The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

February - 2011 - issue > Venture Beat

MotorExchange to expand consumer business with series B

ST Team
Thursday, February 3, 2011
ST Team
MotorExchange, a technology platform to facilitate transactions, and inhouse certification of used vehicles in India, has raised an undisclosed sum as series B funding. The round was lead by Epiphany Ventures and their existing investor Canaan Partners. Indian used vehicle market is presently a $20 billion worth market which is expect to grow a 100 percent and reach a $40 billion market by 2015. With this new funding the company, founded in 2009 by Vinay Sanghi and Rajan Mehra, is eyeing to become a leader in this market.

"It's a vast opportunity. We do have competitors like Carwale, but we are not mere an online marketplace for vehicles, rather a complete transaction platform. Wherein most of our sellers are institutional banks, corporates, fleet owners and consumers and the buyers comprise mostly of the vehicle dealers," says Vinay Sanghi, the CEO of MotorExchange. Currently, the company reaches out to institutional sellers in 80 cities but their consumer business is limited to two cities, Mumbai and Chennai, with this round of funding the company is planning to grow the consumer business to 10 cities.

"The right blend of team wherein one has exclusive experience in dealing with used cars and the other's proficiency in the field of e-commerce has become the best bet for us. Apart from that, the company has kept its strategies straight. Even in terms of a secured transaction, the company has set proper protocols like certification reports," says Gaurav Saraf of Epiphany Ventures. Apart from strengthening their services and increasing their consumer business the company also has plans to increase their head strength from 70 to about 250 in a year's time.
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on facebook