Used cars platform SheerDrive has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round led by Jito Angel Network. The round also saw participation by Insead Angels and existing investors like Group Landmark, Volrado Venture Fund, and Prajit Nanu, (Nium).
With the fresh funds, the Mumbai-based startup aims to expand its operations geographically and develop its artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) based technology.
“The funding will help us move into new geographies and usher in reform in the new car dealerships who are looking to take the share of the pie in this developing market,” said Ravi Mehra, co-founder and chief executive officer of SheerDrive.
Founded in 2020, the platform is currently live in 19 cities. The company claims to have conducted used-car transactions worth $40 million. As per the company’s press statement, SheerDrive has achieved 41% quarter-on-quarter growth and is unit positive. The company aims to achieve a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $500 million and transactions for over 100,000 vehicles across 35 cities by 2025.
In November 2020, SheerDrive raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round led by TPG-backed Group Landmark. Subsequently, in May 2021 SheerDrive additionally raised an undisclosed amount in its seed+ round from Volrado Venture Fund.
SheerDrive acquired Superbids, a B2B auction platform for banking repossessed and insurance salvage vehicles, in October 2020.
The Indian used-car market, as per IndianBlueBook was valued at $23 billion in FY2021-2022, and is projected to grow at double the rate at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.5 percent till FY 2026-2027,
Jito Angel Network is a community-based early-stage angel network that invests from pre-seed to pre-series-A rounds of companies. The network has a portfolio of close to 65 companies which include Kopykitab, Yangpoo, Vidyakul, Atem Porus, S3V, Comofy, Aadar, Pickright, and many more.
The network, in January 2023 was the lead investor in jewelry savings firm Plus’ fresh funding round. In December 2022, it was part of the $1.25 million (Rs 10.25 crore) pre-Series A funding round of artificial intelligence-based hair extensions and wig startup Hair Originals.
In May 2022, Sunil Kumar Singhvi, Vice Chairman, of Jito Angel Network, had told VCCircle in an interaction that the network is looking to deploy over Rs 150 crore across 50-70 startups in the next two years.