GoMechanic pockets $34 mn in fundraise led by new investor Tiger Global

GoMechanic on Friday notified the regulator that it had raised about Rs 255.5 crore ($33.8 million as per exchange rates of day of board approval on share sale) in lieu of a sale of 4,722 preference shares, dubbed Series C. 

The investment was led by New York based alternative investments firm Tiger Global Management’s Singapore investment vehicle Internet Fund VII at Rs 191.6 crore. Returning investors included Sequioa Capital India Investments VI with Rs 31.9 crore, and Orios Select Fund I with Rs 19.2 crore. 

Another returning investor Chiratae Ventures invested about Rs 6.4 each from its India Fund IV and Master Fund IV, GoMechanic’s filings to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs read. 

Targetone Innovations, which owns and operates automobile servicing platform GoMechanic, is also backed by angel investors including Agility Venture Partners founder Dhianu Das, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Pawan Munjal Family Trust, and BCCL, the company that publishes The Economic Times. 

Founded in 2016 by Kushal Karwa, Amit Bhasin, Rishabh Karwa and Nitin Rana, GoMechanic has over 500 car spares, accessories, and repair business partners across India. It claims to service over 10,000 services a month, as per its website. GoMechanic currently operates across 29 tier-I and tier-II cities in India. 

Funding activity in the online-based automobile servicing startups space across India, albeit sporadic, has seen sizable interests and cheques being drawn from marquee investor houses in the past. 

The growing industry includes the likes of TPG Growth’s Group Landmark backed Pitstop, India Quotient backed FirstU, and angel investors backed Autobrix. India is expected to be the world's third-largest automotive market in terms of volume by 2026, as per the central government’s Invest India estimates.