myTVS raises Rs 375 cr from Exor-backed fund, joins 'super app' race

mTVS's super app plans comes after companies Tata Group, Reliance Industries, PhonePe, Paytm and GooglePay, announced the launch of a super app

myTVS, a brand that operates under Ki Mobility Solutions and also part of the $8.5 billion TVS Group, has announced that the company is working on a super app. myTVS has raised Rs 375 crore from a fund managed by Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, to build digital infrastructure and expansion.

The portfolio of companies with Exor as leading shareholder include global majors like Ferrari, Fiat, the Economist Group, Chrysler Automobiles, PartnerRe, CNH Industrial, Juventus FCand GEDI Gruppo Editoriale.

mTVS's super app plans comes after several big conglomerates including Tata Group, Reliance Industries, and other startups such as PhonePe, and Paytm, announced the launch of a super app. A super app is a mobile application that allows several digital services under one umbrella, which includes commerce, daily life and financial services. In the case of myTVS, customers will get access to end-to-end service requirements ranging from mechanical, collision and maintenance services, diagnostics, roadside assistance and insurance among others for their vehicles through the myTVS super app.

On Monday, myTVS said in a statement that it has raised Rs 375 crore from a fund managed by Exor. myTVS will use this fund to scale-up its online-to-offline business model, establish a pan India platform and build its cloud based digital infrastructure to become the largest B-to-C (Business to Consumer) player in the automotive aftermarket, it said. In June, the platform had announced a fund raising of Rs 85 crore from tech investors led by - Pratithi Investment Trust (represented by its trustee Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys) and SeaLink Capital Partners (SCP).

Similarly, the company will also develop a spare parts platform that will aim to cater to the fragmented service garage market (50,000 independent garages), through e-ordering of spare parts and through its efficient supply chain solutions.

R Dinesh, Director, TVS Automobile Solutions (TVS ASL), said, “We are glad to have Exor as our investment partner, which vindicates myTVS’ positioning as an online-to-offline business model. Our end-to-end digital platform provides India’s business entrepreneurs’ an opportunity to grow in a fragmented market and will bring transparency and organised structure into the aftermarket segment.”

myTVS brings together the entire ecosystem consisting of consumers, retailers, service garages and fleet operators onto its digital properties with twin offerings of a service platform and spares platform. It aims to provide end-to-end solutions to its 3 million customers, 20,000 service garages, 10,000 retailers and fleets in 270 cities across the country. The company had acquired Mahindra First Choice Services (MFCS) recently, which was successfully rebranded as myTVS thereby creating one of the largest multi-brand service networks across the country.

Rothschild & co were the bankers for this deal. Nishith Desai Associates acted as counsel to Exor and Jyoti Sagar Associates acted as counsel to myTVS for this deal, the statement said. Through KiMobility, TVS ASL is looking to capture a larger market share in the $10-billion automotive after-market, which is largely unorganised through the presence of about 500,000 garages, by playing the role of an aggregator.