BeliMobilGue founder raises $2.5m to build a multi-vertical auto marketplace

TiinTiin, an Indonesian auction-based marketplace for used vehicles, today announced that it has raised more than US$2.5 million in a seed funding round led by its CEO Rolf Monteiro, Amand Ventures, and PT Luminary Media Nusantara.

TiinTiin CEO Rolf Monteiro / Photo credit: TiinTiin

TiinTiin was launched in April as a customer-to-business used car platform that also offers instant financing. It will use the new funds to add more financing options, motorcycle listings, and services to its platform later this year.

What problem is it solving? According to TiinTiin, buyers have limited access to vehicle inventory as well as visibility on the condition of a vehicle. Pricing details are not also transparent. To address these issues, the startup said it pre-assesses its inventory and offers tailored financing options.

Sellers, on the other hand, often deal with buyers pulling out of a sale, price negotiations, and the possibility of getting paid with counterfeit money, with the entire sales process taking up to two months before it is completed.

TiinTiin’s proprietary tech helps with a 300-point vehicle assessment system, which only takes 30 minutes, the startup said. It also pre-pays for the vehicle, basically managing the entire process for sellers.

What makes it different? TiinTiin’s entering an already crowded used car marketplace in Southeast Asia. There are bigger players, such as Malaysia-based Carsome, which has over US$77 million in total funding and is backed by the likes of Gobi Partners, MUFG Innovation Partners, and Convergence Ventures.

Singapore’s Carro, meanwhile, has ambitious plans to be the region’s top auto marketplace. It has some big-name investors such as SoftBank, B Capital Group, and Singtel Innov8 to achieve that.

In Indonesia, there’s BeliMobilGue, the startup Monteiro founded in 2017. It raised US$30 million from Frontier Car Group and appointed a new CEO last year; the company has since rebranded as OLX Autos. Monteiro and BeliMobilGue parted ways early this year, according to a statement.

TiinTiin said most of the existing players in the space are C2B operators, meaning they source vehicles from consumers and sell them to car dealers. The startup, however, only sees this model as its entry point, as it looks to venture into B2B and B2C models later this year. It also wants to take a multi-vertical approach, with a plan to launch a new category for motorcycles in the third quarter.

How much traction has it gotten? Since its inception, the company claims it has achieved over US$7 million in annualized gross merchandise volume and more than 1,200 annualized transactions.

Looking ahead, TiinTiin wants to enter other Southeast Asian markets by 2021 as it aims to capture at least a 10% market share in the region.

For now, the startup is quite optimistic about the used car industry despite Covid-19. Used car sales were up by 106% in May and over 13% year on year as people move away from public transport and new car buyers reconsider their options due to the pandemic, TiinTiin observed.

Who are the team members? The company currently has a core team of 20 to 25 people.