Ex-Ola and Microsoft employees start two-wheeler servicing platform, raise Rs 4 Cr funding

Drivojoy, an on-demand two-wheeler servicing and repair platform has raised Rs 4 Crore from Indian Angel Network (IAN). This round was also co-led by Tessellate Ventures, Equity Crest and Tracxn Labs. Drivojoy launched their services in August 2015 and currently claims to be servicing 400 bikes per month.

Earlier in 2015, Drivojoy had raised a small angel round to kickstart their operations. Jiby Thomas (Former Co-Founder, Quikr), Mitesh Shah (Ex-CFO, Olacabs) and a US based Angel investor Dr. Amarnath Kommuri participated in that round.

Story so far

Founded by Aman Singhal, Vishwanath Kollapudi and Ravindra Akella, Drivojoy is now 10 member strong. Since the launch, the startup has serviced over 2000 bikes so far and claims to be growing 30% month-on-month.

Aman, an IIT Bombay alumnus previously worked at Ola Cabs with Vishwanath who is a a CFA charter-holder. Their third partner Ravindra is an alumnus of NIT Raipur and an ex-Microsoft employee who's heading the technology he drives end-to-end technology at DrivoJoy.

Drivojoy originally started its operations from Koramangala, Bengaluru and then expanded its services to HSR Layout, Bellandur, BTM Layout and Jayanagar. The company will be soon expanding to Whitefield and other parts of Bengaluru as well.

The startup also recently launched its service provider app to help mechanics keep a track of their past history and lined up jobs for the day. The app can be used to navigate through maps, chat with customers and upload snapshots of replaceable parts. Drivojoy is also working on a consumer facing app to allow users to make bookings, especially when they’re stranded on the road and need immediate breakdown assistance. Like the service provider app, the consumer facing app will also let users upload pictures to help with bookings and chat with in-house experts.

How it works

As an on-demand platform 2-wheeler owners can get their vehicles serviced or repaired at their doorstep, instead of dragging their vehicles to garages. Drivojoy claims to offer their services at 30-40% lower prices and within a time span of 90 minutes(servicing or repair).

Customers first need to specify the make of their bike and the problem they are facing to help Drivojoy match them with a qualified service professional from their network. After being matched, users can select a desired time slot to confirm the booking. After the servicing is over, users can either pay in cash or make the payment online.

While users can book a general service on-demand when they face issues, Drivojoy also offers a pre-paid Annual Maintenance contract(AMC) service at a lower price for customers who want their vehicles checked and serviced on a regular basis.

Drivojoy ensures that only qualified and verified professionals are on their network through internal checks and tests. Each professional needs to have their own vehicle for transport to and from different appointments and Drivojoy has also tied up with a bank to offer loans for their service professionals.

Sector overview

India is estimated to be the largest manufacturer of two wheelers in the world. In developed countries, repairing of two wheeler vehicles is not a big market. With higher purchasing power, consumers are able to afford new vehicles on a more regular basis. Whereas in developing countries like India, people are more value conscious and prefer to get vehicles serviced and repaired on a a regular basis. Henceforth, creating a great market potential for two wheeler repair & service units.

'Uber for X' startups in different sectors have seen a lot of growth in the past few years. Coming to vehicular maintenance and repair, Your Mechanic, which recently raised a $24 million Series B round, is a prominent player in USA. Closer home in India, we have Mericar.com which is backed by Rajan Anandan and My First Cheque along with recent entrants like Gurgaon based Carpathy. There aren't many players focussing on the two-wheeler segment in India and though it involves lower ticket sizes, the complexity involved is lesser and Drivojoy looks to leverage the same.

Future plans

While talking to YourStory, Aman shared the startup's plans going forward. Drivojoy aims to utilise the current funding round for hiring, marketing, building technology and scaling operations. He said,

By connecting customers and mechanics directly we are eliminating the middle layer and empowering mechanics for a sustainable living where they earn 2-3 times as much as they used to earn being employed at a garage. Our future plans include venturing into a number of other automotive verticals and aim at becoming 1-stop aftersales solution for both individuals and businesses. 

While Drivojoy's current focus is on capturing the two-wheeler market in Bengaluru, Aman confirmed that their long term goals will be to enter the four-wheeler sector too in the long run.

Ambarish Raghuvanshi (Ex-CFO, Info Edge “Naukri.com”) and Tessellate ventures led the current round on behalf of IAN while Shailesh Rao (VP, twitter and Ex-MD, Google India), Kunal Shah (Founder, Freecharge), Bhavani Rana (Partner, Amadeus Capital), Deepak Gupta (Co-Founder, EquityCrest) also participated in the round. Equity Crest served as their financial advisor and helped co-syndicate the round for DrivoJoy. Ambarish, IAN Investor commented,

Aman reached out to me (completely "cold") while he was in the process of launching the venture. There was a spark in him which got me to focus on the business proposition.

Drivojoy has small warehouses in Bengaluru and stock fast moving spare parts based on the demand that they see. The startup claims to be able to solve 90 percent of customer issues at their doorstep, without needing to take the vehicle away and consider that to be on of their USPs. They also offer specific services in case of breakdowns or accidents. Another service in the pipeline is 'Vehicle ownership transfer'. Aman claims that they had completed about 100 ownership transfers in the past and had to recently put the service on hold temporarily, due to high demand for other services.

Deepak Gupta, Co-Founder, Equity Crest mentioned that Drivojoy was able to raise a round substantially higher than their initial target in this market environment.

Website: DrivoJoy