If you are an auto repairer in the United States, it is very easy to find auto parts with a simple internet search or auto parts store database. However, the experience in Brazil is not the same. Mechanizou is about to change that.
The Sao Paulo-based startup is tapping into the auto market’s data to create a database that connects mechanic shops and dealers with automotive suppliers. Using proprietary parts identification technology, shops can get the right parts for their customers, thereby reducing costs and waste from wrong parts.
The company Since its launch in 2020, it has recruited more than 200 suppliers and 1,000 mechanics using the platform, which offers more than 600,000 items in virtual stock, Mechanizou founder and CEO Ian Faria told TechCrunch.
Faria and co-founder Andre Simois started Mechanize. They interviewed more than 70 mechanics to find out how they work and what problems they face in fixing cars. What they found was that there was an extensive supply chain, but it was not digitally enhanced.
“There are more than 200 million SKU units in Brazil, but if you try to look up a unit, it’s not digitized, so you may have called the retailer directly 10 years ago or used WhatsApp recently,” Faria said. Technology is the only way to connect mechanics to the supply chain.
Here’s how it works: The mechanics input the vehicle’s serial number, the car’s license plate and the name of the parts, and the mechanic returns the parts, code and price. Mechanics can purchase with one click and receive the parts within an hour.
Currently, the company operates in the northern region of Sao Paulo. In the year At the beginning of 2022, the mechanism closed on a seed round of 4 million dollars, after which the growth increased – 70% per month, the company will grow by 10 x revenue by 2022, according to Faria.
Looking to capture more market places – Faria Brazil’s aftermarket auto parts market has more than 120,000 mechanic shops and 40,000 suppliers – he and his company aim to expand to other regions of the city, including the ABC region and Guarulhos. The end of the year.
To do this, the company last August closed a $14.5 million (R$ 76 million) Series A financing led by Monashes and raised new funding. The firm is joined by Alexia Ventures, FJ Labs and Dallas Capital. The company has now raised a total of $18.5 million, including a $4 million seed round that closes in January 2022.
In addition to expanding to other cities, the new capital will allow it to focus on technology and product development and begin delivering its own units.
“There are a lot of things we want to do as we increase the number of mechanics and dealers we work with,” Faria said. “We want to create algorithms and integrations to help digitize and create a better ecosystem for the automotive industry.”
