SoftBank plans to invest $35 million in Indian car service and repair tech startup GoMechanic
Nickie Louise
Posted On September 6, 2022
Last month, SoftBank reported its biggest ever loss, posting a $21.6 billion in just three months. But that has stopped the firm from making smaller bets on promising and innovative tech startups. This morning, Reuters is reporting that SoftBank Vision Fund is in talks to invest $35 million in Indian car service and repair startup GoMechanic, citing two sources familiar with the ongoing discussion.
The sources told Reuters that Vision Fund’s early-stage talks with GoMechanic are being held for funding of around a valuation of $600-700 million, with Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah. The sources, who declined to be named as the talks are private, also added that existing investor Tiger Global is planning to invest in the $100 million funding round.
GoMechanic and SoftBank declined to comment, while Khazanah and Tiger Global did not respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has previously reported Khazanah’s interest in the funding round.
SoftBank has been in discussions with GoMechanic for more than nine months and was initially uncomfortable with the Indian firm’s valuation request of $1 billion, the first source told Reuters.
As a prominent backer of Indian startups, SoftBank is known for signing bigger cheques. But the ongoing global economic downturn has forced the company to reassess its investment priority and imposed measures to improve its bottom line.
Last year alone, the Japanese giant invested close to $4 billion in Indian tech startups, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Some of its largest investments include digital payments firm Paytm and online education firm Unacademy.
Founded in 2016 by Amit Bhasin, Kushal Karwa, Nitin Rana, and Rishabh Karwa, the Haryana, India-based GoMechanic provides an online car servicing platform intended to help people to schedule their car servicing online at any time.
Since its inception six years ago, GoMechanic has serviced and repaired more than two million cars in India through its service centers and says it costs 40% less than automakers’ own offerings.
