Mahindra First Choice Wheels raises $15 million fresh fund

Mahindra First Choice Wheels (MFCWL) fastest growing automotive products and services provider has raised a new round of $15 million (Rs 100 crores).The entire investment is in the form of primary capital and will be used to fund its growth over the next 18 months and values the company at $250 million pre money and $265 million post money. The last primary fund raise was in March 2015.

MFCWL has achieved a monthly growth rate of nearly 3.5 per cent making it the fastest growing automotive products and services provider in India. The company revenues have grown nearly 8 times in the last 5 years.

Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “MFCWL is a company founded on the principles of innovation and entrepreunership and as one of the fastest growing companies in the Mahindra Group, it is testament to both its own performance as well as the Group’s ability to create and nurture ventures with a focus on shareholder value.”

Near recently it has launched a new remote inventory management solution (Yard Management Solution), which is an innovative wholesale inventory management platform with nearly 600 yards under management.

Rajeev Dubey, group president & CEO (After-Market Sector) Mahindra & Mahindra said, “MFCWL’s primary mission is to organize the used vehicle automotive industry ecosystem. MFCWL’s products and services are providing unprecedented transparency in all aspects of the used vehicle ecosystem – retail and wholesale. MFCWL is the only company, which is truly hybrid with presence both on the ground and in the cloud and this hybrid strategy forms the underpinning of its mission,”

Dr. Nagendra Palle, CEO & MD, Mahindra First Choice Wheels said, “We are excited about the latest primary investment in the company. Our plan in March 2015 was to achieve a network of 1,800 dealerships by 2020, but we have reached that network size in 2018, nearly 2 years ahead of the plan. With GST rates being rationalized, we want to utilize our deep technololgy expertise for retail and wholesale solutions to grow to a network of 5,000 dealers in the next five years.”

For the Consumers, the company has decided to use the funds to grow its franchise dealer network and invest in new technology enabled products and services.