Automotive repair supply chain service provider has carried out its Series B funding round, verging to USD 100 million in total venture capital financing to date.
A worker fixing an engine. Image credit: Malte Lu/Pexels
KZMall (快准车服) has closed a USD 60 million Series B round of funding led by Genesis capital (元生资本), a Hong Kong-based VC firm known for its diverse portfolio that comprises far-famed Chinese upstarts like MissFresh (每日优鲜) and RED (小红书), on August 8.
According to the company’s CEO Jiang Renhai (蒋仁海), the capital raised will be mainly used for the construction of central and provincial warehouses, IT and logistic systems upgrades. The firm is also planning to widen its scope and explore new business fields. During the exclusive interview given to auto news portal AC Qiche (AC汽车) earlier this week, Mr. Jiang mentioned that KZMall might try to launch a SaaS business soon.
Prior to this round, the company raised CNY 200 million (USD 28.33 million) from a handful of investors, including Befor Capital (彬复资本) and Zhengzhi Capital (正知资本), in four funding events.
Founded in 2015, Hangzhou-based KZMall is a one-stop car-repair business solutions provider. The firm cooperates with major auto parts manufacturers in China and a handful of other countries and vehicle service stations, acting as an intermediary placed between these two categories within the supply chain. Its core business is built around optimizing logistics and meliorating channels. In other words, KZMall facilitates and accelerates automotive industry development.
At present, the company possesses 800 service stations across 216 municipalities in 24 provinces of China. As stated by one of its top executives, this number is projected to reach 3,000 by 2021. There are more than 140,000 downstream clients in KZMall network as of now; the managing team intends to boost this amount to 500,000 in three years.
With over 300 million registered vehicles, China remains the largest auto market in the world. Scale like this creates a spacious room for auxiliary subindustries such as insurance, automotive repair and maintenance. “Automotive parts and components market has great potential as it is decentralized and so far inefficient in many aspects,” said Peng Zhijian (彭志坚), co-founder of Genesis Capital, this round’s lead investor.