Used car retailing platform Spinny has acquired AI-powered connected car startup Scouto for an undisclosed sum.
Scouto has built an end-to-end connected car technology suite that provides detailed intelligence on a car’s health and performance and connects the vehicle owner to automotive service providers such as insurers and Fastag issuers.
As part of the acquisition, Scouto’s founders will join Spinny’s team and help build and drive the used car retailing platform’s connected car offerings, said Niraj Singh, cofounder and CEO of Spinny. “By augmenting each other’s capabilities, we can accelerate towards building the country’s largest and the most trusted used car brand,” Singh added.
Founded by Akshay Gupta and Shubham Sharma, Scouto focuses on the consumer car industry and caters to various startups in the automotive aftermarket and used car space in the country. The Ahmedabad-based startup was backed by DevX Venture Fund, iCreate and Bhuva Family Office. For the financial year ending March 31, 2021, Scouto clocked around Rs 5 crore in revenue.
“It is Day 1 for us at Scouto again, and our goal is to ensure that every car in India is connected. We will accomplish our goals with Spinny and continue to design, build, and innovate new technologies that provide an unparalleled customer experience,” Gupta said.
Spinny, founded by Singh, Mohit Gupta and Ramanshu Mahaur, recently raised $283 million in its Series E funding round, led by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, New York-based Tiger Global and Avenir Growth, which helped it join the unicorn club or privately held companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
Spinny currently sells more than 3,000 used cars per month.
It has 23 car hubs operating across 15 cities including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Indore and Coimbatore.
Spinny competes with other VC-backed firms such as Cars24, Cardekho and Droom, all of which raised large rounds last year.
According to industry estimates, about 4.5 million used or pre-owned cars were sold in India in 2019 and the market is growing at a 12% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).
For every new car sold, there are around 1.5 used cars sold in India. In the United States, this ratio is around 2.3.
Source: Economic Times