MobiGarage to scale used smartphone market in small-town India

The company said that the funding will help it scale operations in tier 2 and below cities and rural markets, strengthen the leadership team, build proprietary technologies and analytic engines and launch a focused D2C

New Delhi: MobiGarage, an e-commerce platform for refurbished smartphones, on Monday said it has raised an undisclosed amount as part of its pre-series A round.

The company said that the funding will help it scale operations in tier 2 and below cities and rural markets, strengthen the leadership team, build proprietary technologies and analytic engines and launch a focused D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand.

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The round was led by leading US venture capital fund SOSV, which also saw participation from Artesian, Inflection Point Ventures, MobAvenue, LetsVenture and some high net worth Individuals (HNIs).

There are 500 million people in lower tier towns and rural India, unserved by global brands but ready to adopt new technologies.

“MobiGarage is addressing this multi-billion market gap by providing just-like-new, high-quality refurbished smartphones at a fraction of the cost of new phones, completely removing the biggest hurdle in the consumers’ digital journey,” said Munish Vashishat, Co-Founder of MobiGarage.

Having grown 300 per cent during the pandemic, MobiGarage is India’s leading player in the mobile recommerce space.

“MobiGarage has beaten the pandemic blues to show tremendous growth in over 50 Tier 2+ cities thanks to its robust supply chain, and we’re excited to help the company scale all over India,” said William Bao Bean, General Partner at SOSV, Managing Director of MOX.

MobiGarage said it is processing 20,000 orders a month, growing 3 times annually.

The startup is looking to extend its retail and franchise partnerships across the country in lower tier markets in the next few months.

“MobiGarage has the potential to become India’s most trusted brand in the second-hand smartphone category that can address the needs of those aspiring to upgrade their phones and those who are keen to join the digital economy by switching from feature phones to smartphones,” said Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures.