Car servicing platform Pitstop gets additional pre-Series A funding

Bengaluru-based aftersales car service provider Pitstop has raised $1.6 million (Rs 10.6 crore) in a pre-Series A round of funding from existing investors led by Singapore-based Goldbell Group and Blume Ventures, a company statement said.

Owned and operated by Chatpay Commerce Pvt. Ltd, the company will use the funds to scale up its doorstep services across Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR besides strengthening its technology infrastructure, the statement added.

Pitstop offers car-related services including regular service, mechanical and electrical repair, body repair and doorstep inspection. Its recently launched doorstep services model is its flagship offering.

“We have experimented with our operating model and have serviced more than 2,300 vehicles at doorstep over past six months. Strengthening our business strategy along the same line, we want to build a platform that enables mobility and add great convenience to users thereby creating a hyper-local service model through a fleet of mobile vans plying across the geographies,” Mihir Mohan Mishra, founder and chief executive of Pitstop, said.

According to Mishra, the doorstep service can complete the general service of a vehicle in 90-120 minutes as against the duration of 5-6 hours in an authorised service station.

Pitstop, founded by IIT Kanpur alumni Mishra and Nirant Ramakuru, aims to standardise the unorganised auto service industry by offering a booking platform for repairs via garages and auto care centres.

Prior to establishing Pitstop, Mishra founded Unamia, a kidswear brand, while Ramakuru set up Structize, a 3D printing startup and also served as a business analyst at e-commerce firm Flipkart.

The company’s target audience is customers whose dealership service warranty has expired. Using the company’s online platform, customers can place a car service request, track service progress, get notifications regarding updates on service orders, and make payments as well.

“We found a very high demand for doorstep service from Pitstop’s customers which has prompted us to allocate a large amount of resources to this strategy. The company will further be integrated into managing a customers’ car now from basic service and even accident repair to Pitstop’s partner workshop network, all this handled by a Pitstop service advisor who will be in touch with the customer though the service process,” Sajid Fazalbhoy of Blume Ventures said.

Pitstop had raised $1 million (Rs 64 crore) in a pre-Series A round last September from Blume Ventures, Singapore-based Goldbell Group, and a group of angel investors.

In March, the company had acquired MotorWhiz, a mobile platform for car service and repair jobs, in a cash-and-stock deal.

The company has partnered with over 150 workshops across Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune.

Other deals in the car servicing space

Earlier this month, VCCircle reported that car-servicing startup Carcrew Technology Pvt. Ltd, backed by the TVS Group, secured $2 million (Rs 13 crore) in a fresh pre-Series A round led by a private equity firm.

Carcrew also acquired Delhi-based ClickGarage in a stock-and-cash deal in February this year.

In December last year, Noida-based automobile services startup GarageOnRoad raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round.

Around the same time, Gurgaon-based automobile servicing platform GoMechanic had agreed to acquire car servicing and repair startup VOW CarClinic.

In October last year, two-wheeler servicing startup Let’s Service secured pre-Series A funds from aerospace parts maker Aequs Group.