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Japan’s Spiral Ventures invests in pre-owned cars marketplace Truebil

By Narinder Kapur

  • 12 Sep 2019
Japan’s Spiral Ventures invests in pre-owned cars marketplace Truebil
(L-R): Ravi Chirania, Ritesh Pandey, Shanu Vivek, Shubh Bansal, Suraj Kalwani and Rakesh Raman, founders, Trubil

Car marketplace Truebil has raised $1 million (approximately Rs 7.12 crore at current exchange rates) from Japanese venture capital firm Spiral Ventures.

The Mumbai-based company will use the funds to strengthen its technological infrastructure, Truebil said in a statement on Thursday.

The funding comes just a few months after Truebil raised $14 million (around Rs 100 crore) in its Series B funding round led by Japanese investor Joe Hirao, who is the founder of multi-business firm ZIGExN.

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Existing investors Kalaari Capital, Inventus Capital, Kae Capital, Chinese venture firm Shunwei Capital and the San Francisco-based Tekton Ventures also participated the Series B round.

Truebil, which is operated by Paix Technology Pvt. Ltd, was founded in 2015 by former Housing.com employees Suraj Kalwani, Ravi Chirania, Shubh Bansal, Rakesh Raman and Shanu Vivek, along with former Fab.com executive Ritesh Pandey and former Rio Tinto official Himanshu Singhal.

The company runs an online portal to sell pre-owned cars and offers services such as affordable car loans, paper transfer, warranty servicing, emergency roadside assistance and insurance renewal.

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Truebil, which currently operates in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, says it has developed proprietary technology such as personalised recommendation system, accurate pricing and procurement predictors and dynamic pricing capabilities.

It vets used cars, prepares inspection reports and uploads photographs of dents or scratches so that buyers can shortlist their preferred choice for purchase.

In February 2017, the company secured $3 million in a follow-on Series A funding round from Shunwei Capital. In January 2016, it raised $5.5 million (Rs 35 crore) in its Series A round led by Kalaari Capital, Inventus Capital, Kae Capital and Tekton Ventures.

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Some of Truebil’s competitors include Spinny, CarDekho, and Droom.

The Japan-based Spiral Ventures says it focusses on VC investments in its home country and the Asia. The firm says it also wants to be bridge for Japanese companies looking to create businesses in the Asian market.  

Apart from Truebil, companies in its portfolio include real estate-technology platform FastFox, consumer behavior firm Crownit and social network for doctors Docquity.

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