March 29 (Reuters) – India’s GoMechanic was acquired by a consortium led by car parts manufacturer Lifelong Group on Wednesday, ending months of uncertainty after the beleaguered car servicing startup announced job cuts and an independent review into its finances.
Financial details of the deal was not disclosed. GoMechanic and its investor Stride Ventures, which helped the process, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request further details.
LifeLong could not be immediately reached for a comment.
Major investors of GoMechanic – Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Chiratae Ventures – ordered a probe into GoMechanic in January after its co-founder Amit Bhasin admitted to errors in the company’s financial reporting.
The acquisition is the result of a “widely publicised” sales process in which the consortium emerged as the winning bidder, Lifelong said in a statement.
“This transaction will assist in preserving the ecosystem at large and also enable providing continued livelihood to the employees at GoMechanic,” Lifelong Group said in a statement.
Founded in 2016, GoMechanic serviced and repaired more than two million cars in the country through its service centers, and says its services cost 40% less than the offerings of automakers.
Last year, Reuters reported that SoftBank was in talks to invest $35 million in the company at a valuation of around $600-700 million.
The deal with GoMechanic will help LifeLong Group – a 38-year old auto components maker – expand its operations in the automotive service and repair industry.
It makes commodity parts and assemblies and counts companies including Hero Moto Corp, General Motors, Arvin Meritor, Magna International Inc, BorgWarner Inc among its clients. (Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
