Venture Catalysts, India’s first and largest early-stage investment firm, has announced full exit from its portfolio Koovers, a leading B2B Ecommerce platform for auto spare parts, with a 2.1x returns in just 1.5 years.
The firm exited its investment in Koovers post the latter’s acquisition by Schaeffler India, an industrial and automotive parts maker and listed subsidiary of German automotive major Schaeffler Group, in August, 2023. Schaeffler acquired Koovers for Rs 142.4 crore.
Venture Catalysts had invested in Koovers in early 2022 in its pre-Series A round through its Angel Fund and few other Angels and Family Offices directly investing in the company. All the investors have got an exit with the acquisition. Inflection Point Ventures, Canbank Venture Fund, and JPIN are some of the other marquee investors in Koovers.
“Koovers is one of the rarest startups that is not only solving a major problem in the automotive aftermarket segment but has also been posting impressive revenues year after year. We invested in the company for a long term but the acquisition was a great exit opportunity with over 2.1x returns in just 1.5 years in a market that’s facing a longish funding winter and a liquidity crunch. These opportunities to the investors create a huge positive impact in the entire ecosystem,” said Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Founder and Managing Director of Venture Catalysts ++.
Founded in 2015 by Vinayak YB, Sandeep Begur, and S Prem Kumar, Koovers is a B2B ecommerce platform that supplies auto spare parts to independent auto workshops and the aftermarket ecosystem. The company clocked a revenue of Rs 77 crore in 2022-23 and supplies over 7,000-plus workshops and has a portfolio of around 1.8 million parts from various manufacturers.