Chinese investment firms Qingsong Fund, Shoutai Investment Group and Langsheng Investment have led a RMB120 million (US$17 million) series A+ round in AutocloudPro, a Shanghai-based start-up developing smart cloud platforms for the sales and distribution of auto parts.
Matrix Partners China and Fenghou Capital also participated in the round, according to a company announcement.
Founded in 2016, AutocloudPro started as a vehicle damage assessment platform. It then transitioned to become a business-to-business (B2B) auto parts, big data and supply chain platform. The platform lets car repair shops search for and purchase auto parts by typing in a vehicle's identification number (VIN). Users can receive a price quote within 15 minutes using the system, compared with up to three days using traditional services.
The start-up maintains partnerships with over 500 auto parts manufacturers and first level agents, covering more than 150,000 types of vehicles. As of this April, it had provided services to 7,343 car repair stores in China.
The company also operate offline shops to compliment its online offerings. It currently has two physical stores in Beijing and Shanghai, and eight storage centers in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Jinan and Kunming. It plans to expand to 30 auto parts storage centers by the end of 2017 and around 100 brick-and-mortar shops in 2018.
AutocloudPro previously raised a RMB11.8 million (US$1.7 million) angel round in April 2016 from Fenghou Capital, Taoshi Capital and Mytech China. It plans to use the latest proceeds to set up more offline stores and build up its financial services team.