Quikr acquires Stepni, introduces vehicle maintenance services

Moneycontrol Bureau

Cross-category classifieds business portal Quikr, has acquired Stepni, a platform that connects vehicle owners with service providers nearest to them. The move is aimed to strengthen the company’s service offerings under automobiles vertical QuikrCars.

Stepni, founded by Vinay Singh and Nikhil Nair in October 2015, helps consumers with their vehicle servicing needs in Bengaluru. QuikrCars focuses on automobiles including cars, bikes and commercial vehicles.

Talking about the acquisition, Atul Tewari, Head of QuikrCars and COO, Quikr said, "We believe there is an acute need and a large opportunity for someone to innovate in the auto buying selling space in India. Stepni’s business model will now allow us to develop a longer term relationship with car owners as opposed to only at the point of buying-selling. We plan to scale vehicle maintenance services to all major cities over the next three months. ”

Stepni’s founders and team will join QuikrCars with immediate effect. The overall platform integration will help QuikrCars consumers shortlist service providers that can ensure the best service for their vehicle within 5 kilometres of their location.

"Teaming up with Quikr brings tremendous possibilities for our business model on the demand side and it will help to scale the platform seamlessly across multiple cities. We look forward to combining our experience in the vehicle maintenance domain with Quikr’s scale and reach to make vehicle services convenient and affordable for all." said Vinay Singh, Co-Founder, Stepni

Quikr’s investors include Tiger Global Management, Kinnevik, Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners, Nokia Growth Partners, Steadview Capital, Omidyar Network, and Ebay Inc.