Quikr forays into vehicle maintenance services, acquires Bengaluru-based Stepni
Tiger Global-backed Quikr has acquired Stepni, with the aim to strengthen the company’s service offerings under QuikrCars, which focuses on all types of vehicles including cars, bikes and commercial vehicles.
The amount of the deal has not been disclosed.
Bengaluru-based Stepni was founded by car lovers and IIM graduates Vinay Singh and Nikhil Nair in October 2015. The platform connects with consumers and helps them with vehicle servicing needs through a partner network of over 125 service centres across the city.
Post-acquisition, the founders of Stepni will join Quikr, and the platform will be integrated. Customers can still opt for the services and can access service providers within 5 km of their location.
Commenting on the acquisition, Atul Tewari, Head of QuikrCars and COO, Quikr, in a statement said,
At QuikrCars, we believe there is an acute need and a large opportunity for someone to innovate in the auto buying and selling space in India. Over the last couple of years, we have turned QuikrCars into the country’s leading auto platform that cuts across new and used car transactions. In new cars, we are working closely with OEMs to address their marketing needs, and in used cars, we are by far the number one destination for inspected, consumer-owned cars.
He further added that Stepni’s business model will allow them to develop a longer term relationship with car owners, moving beyond being only the point of buying and selling. Also, the company plans to scale vehicle maintenance services to all major cities over the next three months.
Quikr’s other recent initiatives and acquisitions
Earlier this month, Quikr had launched Dazzlr, a talent discovery platform catering to the film industry that brings together actors, casting professionals, directors and producers. It is available on both iOS and Android.
The Indian media and entertainment sector alone is expected to become a $29.11 billion market by 2019.
In July this year, the company had also acquired Bengaluru-based Hiree, a job portal. The synergy for Quikr was obvious as the acquisition made a larger talent pool available to recruiters for entry-level, blue collar and white collar lateral hires. The platform earlier provided for only blue collar, grey collar and entry-level jobs across India.
At the onset of 2016, Quikr had also made a noteworthy acquisition after closing a deal with real estate portal CommonFloor for around $120 million. The acquisition helped in boosting its platform QuikrHomes, which was launched four months before the acquisition.
Apart from Tiger Global, Quikr’s other investors include Kinnevik, Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners, Nokia Growth Partners, Steadview Capital, Omidyar Network, and Ebay Inc.
Quikr has been making a number of strategic moves with the intent of strengthening their position in the Indian market. Quikr Jobs and its classifieds portal Quikr have been the most popular, but it remains to be seen how the other newly launched platforms can carve out a market for themselves.