Accel, SAIF Partners back used-car marketplace Spinny in Series A round

Spinny, an online marketplace which specialises in used cars, has raised $13.2 million (Rs 92.4 crore at the current exchange rate) in a Series A round of funding led by venture capital firms Accel and SAIF Partners.

The startup said in a statement that existing investors Blume Ventures and Simile Ventures also contributed to the round. TaxiForSure co-founder Raghunandan G and Haresh Chawla, partner at private equity firm True North, participated in their personal capacity. Alteria Capital, too, pitched in by offering venture debt.

Spinny, which is operated by Gurugram-based Yellow Drive Technologies Pvt. Ltd, said it will use the fresh capital to strengthen its team across functions, improve inventory assortment and expand to newer locations.

Founded by Niraj Singh, Mohit Gupta and Ramanshu Mahaur in 2015, Spinny offers doorstep delivery of used cars and helps arrange financing besides managing paperwork. In its current avatar, it operates on a full-stack dealership model, using technology to source and maintain inventory for its customers.

The startup is currently active in Delhi-NCR and has three car hubs -- one each in Delhi, Gurugram and Noida. It plans to open at least five more hubs by the end of the year.

“Used cars is a massive market, but buying a used car remains a painful experience, and the buyer is always worried about getting cheated. Spinny follows a full-stack approach which ensures that customers get what they are promised,” said Mukul Arora, managing director at SAIF Partners.

Spinny’s last-known fundraise took place in 2017, when it secured $1 million in a seed round led by Blume Ventures. Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Freecharge co-founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon had also participated in that round.

Other startups in the same bracket as Spinny include Truebil, CarDekho, Cars24, Carwale and CarTrade, in addition to horizontal people-to-people platforms such as OLX and Quikr.

Recent deals in the segment

• January 2019: Jaipur-based Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd, which owns auto portal CarDekho.com, closed its Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital’s global growth fund and private-sector lender Axis Bank.
• January 2019: Mumbai-based Truebil raised a fresh investment of Rs 100 crore ($14 million then) in a mix of equity and debt.
• October 2018: Droom, an online marketplace for new and used vehicles, closed its Series E funding round at $30 million (Rs 220 crore).