India’s Spinny to fund $160 million to acquire GoMechanic, sources say | TechCrunch

Spider-likean Indian online marketplace for used cars, is raising around $160 million from its acquisition of car service startup GoMechanic, TechCrunch has learned.

The Series G round, which includes a mix of primary and secondary transactions, would value the 10-year-old startup at about $1.8 billion post-money, three people familiar with the matter said, largely in line with its previous valuation.

Nearly $90 million of the round is primary, people said; Existing investor Accel has already transferred about $44 million of that amount, with some details of the investment appearing this week in regulatory filings in India, which Indian outlet Entrackr first reported. A new investor is participating in the remainder of the primary funding, but TechCrunch was unable to confirm the details.

WestBridge Capital is doubling down on the new round with a check of a similar size to its previous investment, the people said. The company invested approximately $35 million to $40 million in Spinny’s Series F round earlier this year.

Much of the secondary portion of the deal will be sold by Indian venture capital firm Fundamentum, according to the people, while Blume Ventures is also expected to withdraw some of its stake.

Accel, Fundamentum and Blume Ventures did not respond to requests for comment. WestBridge Capital declined to comment.

In March, Spinny raised $131 million in the first part of the Series F round led by Accel, with participation from Fundamentum, before the raise was extended to approximately $170 million in June with WestBridge Capital. Those funds were intended to scale up Spinny’s core used car business.

However, the new round is being raised specifically to finance the acquisition of GoMechanic and invest in its platform, without tapping into the startup’s existing cash reserves, the people said. Previous reports suggested that Spinny could acquire GoMechanic approximately ₹4.5 billion (approximately $49.70 million) in a cash-and-stock deal.

A consortium led by Lifelong Group acquired GoMechanic in 2023 after the startup admitted to “serious errors” in its financial reporting. The startup was previously backed by leading investors including Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and SoftBank.

For Spinny, the acquisition of GoMechanic would increase control over the used car value chain. The Gurugram-based startup has built a large consumer-facing business, selling around 13,000 used cars every month, mainly directly to buyers and, to a lesser extent, to dealers through its auction platform. Spinny operates its own large reconditioning centers to refurbish vehicles before sale and relies on third-party service shops for the after-sales maintenance of customer cars – a gap that GoMechanic could fill internally.

GoMechanic would also act as a “two-way” funnel for Spinny, a person familiar with the matter said. The platform would service vehicles bought or sold through Spinny, helping to attract car owners who may not yet be customers. That could help expand Spinny’s vehicle offering without significantly increasing customer acquisition costs.

The acquisition comes at a time when the Indian used car market is expected to grow compound annual growth rate of approximately 10% to roughly 9.5 million units by 2030, from nearly 6 million units today, according to a recent report from Mahindra First Choice and Volkswagen Pre-owned Certified.

The deal with GoMechanic would mark Spinny’s latest move to expand its footprint in the Indian auto market. In recent months, the startup has expanded beyond used car sales acquiring automotive publications Autocar India, Autocar Professional and which car? India from the London-based media group Haymarket, and on establishment of a non-banking finance companySpinny Capital, to offer car loans to customers.

Spinny co-founder and CEO Niraj Singh declined to comment.