Bangalore-based YoungMonk Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates Zoomo, a P2P mobile marketplace for buying and selling used cars, has netted $1 million in seed funding from multi-stage private investment firm SAIF Partners, according to a The Times of India report, quoting the startup’s CEO Arnav Kumar.
The money will be used to expand services in the city as well as to other major cities, including Mumbai over the next six months.
Zoomo was founded in July this year by Kumar and Himangshu Hazarika (both IIT Kharagpur alumni), along with Aniket Behera (IIT Bombay alum). The trio had earlier co-founded Sokartik, a web app to create visual, narrative stories.
Zoomo is a mobile-based P2P marketplace that helps users buy verified, well-maintained, fairly-priced cars from individual sellers. According to the firm, it lists only genuine cars from verified individuals. It also carries out various services like certification, background checks, paperwork, loans, and insurance for the buyers.
The firm says it has listed over 1,800 cars, and has more than 1,200 active subscribers, currently. It also sends in-time alerts and personalised recommendations to subscribers.
The app is currently available only in Android-based devices.
SAIF Partners is a VC and PE firm, and manages over $1 billion of investments in India. It has a portfolio of over 30 companies, including MakeMyTrip, JustDial, HomeShop18, One97 and BookMyShow.
Since January this year, it has backed firms like Capital Float, an online financial services venture which helps SMEs get working capital, online test prep venture Topper, community portal Touchtalent and online travel related startup TravelTriangle.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
