The environment is limited in supply because auto parts buyers require specific parts to fit certain vehicles. New Zealand is the home of this company. partiallyHe wants to make it easier for people around the globe to find the right parts and help them overcome these restrictions.
The two-year-old startup does not operate an auto parts marketplace. It is a marketplace platform that partially powers eBay and Shopify, with its database of more 50 million items sourced from over 20,000 manufacturers and suppliers.
TechCrunch CEO Levi Fawcett explained that “the technology works in principle” and that he worked with suppliers to ingest structure and standardize data.
The company then manages this data and pushes that data back to the major platforms buyers use to find auto parts.
The startup closed on Monday a $21 million Series A to continue growing in Europe, where the majority of its customer base is located — aside from marketplaces like eBay, it also works in part with the United Nations and a couple of unnamed Fortune 500 companies. The startup plans to expand its operations in the USA, where it is actively seeking employees and building an office. The most important thing is that the money will allow the startup to double its engineering team and work on the core problem of assembling all of the parts of a car using a license plate.
“It sounds simple, but it’s a very difficult problem,” Fawcett said, noting that Partly’s team of 50 must lay off more than 100 employees by the end of next year.
Partly’s secondary goal, aside from expanding its business operations, is to represent New Zealand at the international stage. The startup has a high-quality client base and no direct competitors. It aims to be the largest New Zealand-based technology firm within five years. It would need to do business with Xero which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. According to Google Finance data, its market capitalization is approximately $7.4 billion.
Fawcett, a former manager and developer of hardware simulations at Rocket Lab said the chance to connect parts buyers and the right parts was “brutal”. The US alone saw consumers spend approximately $95.4 billionOn auto parts and accessory market in 2021. The market for auto parts and accessory is expected to surpass the global market. $2.5 trillionBy 2024
“About 98% of the parts ordered today are done on the phone by a parts interpreter, their job is to take a phone call, understand what they are looking for, find it in the system, find out which car it came from, determine if there are any differences or if It would have been modified when it came from another country, and then provide the buyer with the appropriate part,” Fawcett said. “It’s that whole process that we flip. Instead, you insert your license plate and then choose the part you want. It basically takes a very old process and radically changes it by removing the human.”
The problem has never been solved on a large-scale scale because it requires working across aftermarket parts manufacturers, retailers, and auto manufacturers to create a common language that allows all information to be consistent across all manufacturers. This not only makes it simpler for buyers, but also for sellers who want better understanding of their customers.
Fawcett stated, “In the case the United Nations, they’re supporting the World Food Program which is one the largest fleets worldwide.” “They have this huge network where their garages need to buy parts, and they need to centralize the data to understand things like discounts on volume, correct parts for all vehicles, etc. We’re running this system to connect buyers and sellers, but we’re doing it B2B.”
Partly believing that the B2B model would provide the secret sauce to expansion, the startup has already convinced investors of its potential growth potential.
TechCrunch was informed by Rob Koniper, managing Director and cofounder at Shasta Ventures. He stated that venture capital is attracted “to huge markets with compelling founders working to solve important consumer problems.”
Koniper stated that the $500 billion market for aftermarket auto parts is one of the largest opportunities in the world. “Levy and his team have developed a solution that makes finding the right part much easier and faster, resulting in higher market conversion, lower revenues, and happier customers. Their solution is based upon years of engineering work that allows them quickly scale from providing $150,000,000 in annual orders. Today into the billions.”
Octopus Ventures partially managed Series A. Apart from Shasta, Square Peg, Blackbird and Ten13 were also participating investors. Square co-founder Randy Reddy, Hillfarrance and I2BF are also among them. The conference was attended by existing investors like Dylan Field, CEO and Rocket Lab CEO, Akshay Kothari, cofounder of Notion, as well as Peter Beck, CEO and CEO of Rocket Lab.
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