Spotawheel, the “end-to-end” digital platform for buying a used car in Poland and Greece, has raised €10 million in debt and equity funding, as it sees a bounce-back from the slowdown witnessed as the coronavirus crisis took hold.
Once again the new investment was led by VentureFriends, with participation from existing investor Velocity Partners, along with U.S.-based FJ Labs and unnamed strategic investors. It adds to €8 million previously raised by the Athens-headquartered startup.
Spotawheel says funds will be used to expand across multiple locations in Europe. The company will also invest in growing its used car sourcing infrastructure. Headcount will be added to commercial, tech and ops related positions across Europe.
Launched in 2016, Spotawheel operates a B2C platform for used cars that moves the buying and selling process online, and by doing so, removes a lot of friction while also claiming to bring greater transparency. The idea is to provide e-commerce levels of convenience and protection when purchasing a used car.
“Customers can opt in for a test drive or have the car delivered countrywide under a 7-day return policy, while enjoying up to 5 years of limited warranty, the largest in Europe,” Charis Arvanitis, Spotawheel co-founder and CEO, told me last year.
To help make this possible, the startup employs “predictive analytics” of the condition and expected failures on a per car basis. “Sourcing decisions are made at a fraction of the time and cost required by traditional dealers, while allowing for inventory turnover of up to 3x faster than the market average,” claims Spotawheel.
Arvanitis tells me Spotawheel has returned to “triple digit” growth as of this month, recovering from a lull since June. “[The] current sales run rate is already at several thousands cars sold per year, just from two EU countries where our combined market share is slightly above 0.1%,” he says.
On the roadmap is increasing Spotawheel’s sourcing footprint to 25 European cities, including in Germany in Q4 2020. The startup is also setting up its first European vehicle reconditioning centre, although, with papers yet to be signed, Arvanitis isn’t revealing the location for now.