Used car automotive service provider, Mahindra First Choice Wheels announced that it has raised $15 million in a funding round led by its existing investors. The company plans to employ the funds to expand its franchise dealer network and invest in new technology enabled products and services for the online consumer.

According to a statement made by the company, the entire investment is in the form of primary capital and will be employed to fund the company’s growth over the course of the next 18 months. In addition to this, the investment values the company at $250 million pre-money and at $265 million post-money.

“MFCWL is a company founded on the principles of innovation and entrepreneurship and as one of the fastest growing companies in the Mahindra Group it is testament to both its own performance as well as the Group’s ability to create and nurture ventures with a focus on shareholder value,” Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra said.

Prior to this, the company’s last primary fundraise was held in March 2015. The company is backed by a number of prominent investors including the hedge fund Valiant Capital and the US-based digital marketing and software company, Cox Automotive.

Mahindra First Choice Wheels was founded in 2008 and since then, it has catered to the needs of retail and wholesale customers through it “on-the-ground” and “in-the-cloud” capabilities.

The company has been among the fastest growing automotive products and services provider in the country and has achieved an admirable growth rate of approximately 3.5 per cent over a five year period. Furthermore, the company has claimed that its revenues have grown nearly eight-fold in the past 5 years. Currently, the company has over 1650 franchise dealers in over 800 towns. It also provides digital platforms in areas of used vehicle auctions (eDiig.com), inspections (autoinspekt.com), and pricing analytics (indianbluebook.com)

Recently, the company has also launched a new remote inventory management system called Yard Management Solution (YMS). It is a wholesale inventory management platform which is managing over 600 yards. The company is aiming to grow to a network of 5000 dealers over the coming five years.

The company’s main competitors in the C2C space it operates in include Droom, Spinny, Carwale, Truebil, Carnation, Cardekho, Cartrade and ZigWheels.

According to a report by IBEF, the automobile market in India is currently valued at $125 billion. Of this number, $100 billion is extrapolated to be the share of the automobile sales segment and the remaining $25 billion includes services. It is expected that the automobile market in the country will grow at a rate of 10% to reach a valuation of $225 billion by 2020.

(Picture courtesy: mahindrafirstchoice.com)