Revolutionizing Auto Repairs: Why We Invested in Fixcraft

In the bustling streets of a big city, maintaining a flawless car or motorcycle can seem like an impossible feat, city life often leaves vehicles with dings and dents. The dilemma arises when choosing between authorized service centers and roadside garages. Enter Fixcraft, a trailblazing venture that's changing the game in India's automotive repair industry. 

Closing the Gap: Affordable Excellence in Auto Repairs

At Fixcraft, the mission is clear: to offer customers an automobile repair experience that matches authorized workshops but at a significantly reduced cost. Before the company, there were only two choices, the first was to pay exorbitant fees at an authorized service center where one has no visibility of what is happening to their vehicle or to a local garage which raises quality and trust concerns, along with poor damage assessment. Fixcraft recognized this problem and stepped in to bridge the gap.

Transparency is paramount, and Fixcraft's unique approach allows customers to witness the repair process from the comfort of their own homes. They also provide a free AI-based estimate for the service you want for your car by clicking a few pictures and a guaranteed promise: you won't pay a rupee over the estimate. The company also prioritizes communication, ensuring customers are kept informed about any delays through email, calls, or even WhatsApp. Fixcraft offers a seamless pick-up and drop-off service through its dedicated driver concierge team. They also pride themselves on using 100% genuine paint and parts, sourced from the same suppliers as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This unique approach not only benefits car owners, who enjoy top-tier repair services at reasonable rates but also insurance companies, who gain a single, high-scale solution for directing incoming claims. 

The primary competition from aggregators couldn’t benefit from deep partnerships with large aggregators, and multi-brand showrooms do not have the same sophistication on customer acquisition, customer lifecycle management, and the cost advantages of bulk sourcing and high capacity utilization. 

Opportunity

Investing in a company is not just about supporting a business; it's about backing a vision. Led by a seasoned team with a wealth of experience, Fixcraft is now India's premier virtual car repair management company. Co-founded by Vivek Sharma, boasting over a decade in consumer-tech and business development and Inderjeet Rao, a tech veteran with over 13 years of experience, Fixcraft addresses a critical pain point in the industry. 

The founders' combined expertise in consumer tech, business development, and operations made it evident to us at Bharat Founders Fund (BFF) that this team had the vision and experience to execute this model effectively. Their dedication to transparency and efficiency is palpable in every aspect of their operation.

At the time (2021), the auto service and repair market size was $9bn, and was growing at a 20% YoY, estimated to reach $20bn by 2026. An average of $200 was spent per year on the repair of a single car. When we met the team, the company had already last raised $650k at a $4.2mn valuation and had notable angels backing them. They had already serviced over 3,000 cars and over 10,000 panels (panel = 1 key unit in a car body) and were rapidly increasing their partnerships on all fronts. They had sustained revenue growth, with a 2x business growth post the COVID-19 unlock, and were on track for a $1bn revenue run-rate, while at the same time, the number of cars serviced was also growing QoQ.

Today, the gross revenue for FY22-23 rose by 4x from FY21-22, while a positive cash flow was achieved in July 2023. They have also launched an internal branded line of auto spare parts, V-Motive, through which the logistics cost for spares has come down from ~8.5% to 6%. It has also established a partnership with NBFC to enable customers to buy spare parts on credit, without impacting the working capital requirement for Fixcraft. The company also looks to hit profitability in the first quarter of 2024!

We continue to remain captivated by Fixcraft's dedication to revolutionizing the auto repair industry and are excited to be a part of their journey.