Lately, Tech-enabled multi-brand car service provider, Pitstop announced the onboarding of Nihal Shetty as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Services, in a bid to make FY 21-22 a period of hyper-growth.
Prior to this Nihal was the Country General Manager of WeWork India and was responsible for the P&L, customer experience, and monetization in the region. An ex-student of the Indian School of Business and University of Michigan, he has more than a decade of experience in automotive, real estate, and e-commerce.
“There is a huge opportunity to improve customer experience in the aftermarket space through the adoption of technology across the chain on the supply side and digital adoption on the demand side. The industry, expected to grow from INR 50,000 crore to INR 100,000 crore by FY30, is ripe for this adoption and changes in consumer preferences," said, Nihal Shetty, CEO - Services, Pitstop.
He went on to add that Pitstop is at the center of this modification having built a robust tech-stack both on the stream and ultimatum side that is focused on solving for customer experience.
The company attained an average monthly growth of 40 percent in 2020 and interestingly, the biggest surge in its customer base came from women car owners, growing from a negligible level in early 2020 to close to 23 percent in now a day.
Mihir Mohan, Founder, Pitstop, states, “The auto aftermarket industry is at an inflection point. There are new technologies fuelling new business models. Pitstop continues to innovate and scale in our current and newer markets. If the last few quarters are any indication, where we grew by almost 40 percent month on month, 2021 will be a watershed year for us as we grow vertically as well as horizontally. I am delighted to have Nihal on board during this exciting period.”
A substantial slice of the company's customer base comes from the gated communities sponsored by IT Corridors. As part of its expansion plans, it aims to make more homogeneous inroads across the cities where it has an important presence.
Pitstop has built a platform with over 250 garages, where it helps garages upskill their technicians, procure genuine spare parts, and provide consumers with a service warranty. It also has a home service offering.
Presently, Pitstop service is accessible in 12 locations counting Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Kolkata, Agra, and Darbhanga.
The start-up has escalated $9.7 million to date along with $3.5 million escalated in a Pre-series-B lately. The funding was led by Ventureast with participation from ACKO Technologies, LetsVenture, AngelList India, Blume Ventures, among others.