CarZ raised $5 Million in Series A Funding
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Hyderabad: CarZ, an auto repair services provider for all models of four-wheelers, has raised $5 million in Series A funding from IndoUS Venture Partners. With experienced entrepreneurs and executives, IndoUS Venture Partners provides early and mid-stage funding to new or growing businesses in India. M. M. Dillon & Co. (formerly CRT Investing Banking), Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. was the sole advisor to this transaction. Founded by auto experts and enthusiasts Venu Donepudi and Vijay Gummadi in 2008, CarZ has a vision to establish an independent, multi-brand car service network where cars produced by most manufacturers can be serviced under one roof. Headquartered in Hyderabad, the company plans to invest the fund raised for the expansion of its network service locations to 300 centers nationwide by 2015. The CarZ team has automotive expertise in India, North America, Europe and Mid-East in running some of the world's largest independent auto repair franchises, spare parts retail and distribution networks. The company provides full range of repair services including electrical and mechanical repair, accident repair and parts and accessories repair. Talking about the funding, Venu Donepudi, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Carz said, "As the automotive industry is in a growing and evolving phase, service offerings need to be improved accordingly, which requires a business model inclusive of such transformation." He adds that this funding and partnership with IndoUS Venture Partners will facilitate a phased roll out of their unique and differentiated car service network in new maintenance services accessible to Indian car owners. Plans for the financial year, 2011-12, is to open professional centers in major cities of Andra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. "In the next five years, we look forward to grow to a size of 300 centers and expand our man power from 30 as of now, to 9000. We are fully equipped to provide services to our customers," quotes Donepudi. He feels that the growing number of centers in the country is because of the high demand resulted in due to customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth. Managing Director of IndoUS Venture Partners, Kumar Shiralagi, added, "Indian car owners have become more conscious of service quality, value pricing and convenience seeking for a multi-brand car service centres like CarZ."