Hyderabad Angels, M&S Partners invest in SparesHub

Pune-based Iradium Automobiles Pvt Ltd, which operates online automobile parts and services marketplace SparesHub, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Hyderabad Angels and Singapore-based M&S Partners.

SparesHub will use the funds to strengthen its technology infrastructure, expand operations, and enroll more participants in its marketplace, a company statement said.

Hyderabad Angels was the lead investor in this round. As part of the deal, Prasad Vanga, member of Hyderabad Angels and P S Sreekanth, investment director at Hyderabad Angels, will join the board of SparesHub as director and observer, respectively.

In June this year, Hyderabad Angels had said it had built a pipeline to invest around Rs 6 crore ($950,000) in five startups in the country.

"There are immense opportunities in the Indian automobile industry for technological innovation and new solutions. We are proud to back SparesHub to lead this change and help it in its global expansion," said Hiro Mashita, founder and director of M&S Partners, Singapore.

M&S Partners made its first investment in India in March this year.

An e-commerce marketplace for automobile parts and services, SparesHub was launched in December 2013 by Tapas Gupta and Arijit Chakraborty.

Gupta was earlier with Crisil as a credit analyst and has also worked as an intern at Mercedes Benz. Chakraborty worked with Tata Motors, Reliance and Dell before launching SparesHub.

"There is a lot of startup activity going on globally in the automotive and transportation industry because of the large size of the market. There is tremendous scope for disruption using technology as an enabler in the global as well as Indian market," said Gupta.

SparesHub is also a portfolio company of Delhi-based 91Springboard. Varun Chawla, co-founder of 91 Springboard, also serves as an advisor to the startup.

The company has inked partnerships with various automobile manufacturers to offer their after-market spares online. It claims to offer more than 40,000 car parts across multiple brands and models and has partnered with over 25 car service centres across western India to offer them replacement parts.

The company also plans to open multiple sourcing hubs across India.

Mumbai-based online car services marketplace MotorExpert, which aggregates automobile workshops on its platform, also lets workshops place orders for spare parts and accessories via its mobile app. Its founder Runal Dahiwade had launched an automotive spare parts venture called Carkhana, which was later acquired by Topwheelz Automotive Pvt Ltd in 2012.

The global counterparts of SparesHub are Chinese auto parts internet company Tuhu, which recently raised $100 million in Series C investment and US-based Repair-Pal which raised $13 million in funding in early 2013.