Venture Catalysts fully exits automotive marketplace Koovers

Early-stage investment firm Venture Catalysts has announced full exit from its portfolio Koovers, a B2B e-commerce platform for auto spare parts, with 2.1x returns in 1.5 years.

Venture Catalysts (Vcats) exited its investment in Koovers post the latter’s acquisition by Schaeffler India Limited for Rs 142.4 crore in August. Schaeffler is an industrial and automotive parts maker and listed subsidiary of German automotive major Schaeffler Group.

Venture Catalysts had invested in Koovers in early 2022 in its pre-Series A round through its Angel Fund and a few other Angels and Family Offices directly investing in the company. According to the firm, all the investors have got an exit with the acquisition. Inflection Point Ventures, Canbank Venture Fund, and JPIN are some of the other investors in Koovers.

Founded in 2015 by Vinayak YB, Sandeep Begur and S Prem Kumar, Koovers focuses on supplying genuine spare parts to independent auto workshops and the aftermarket ecosystem including ordering and doorstep delivery. The company claims to have clocked a revenue of Rs 77 crore in FY23 and supplies to over 7,000 workshops and has a portfolio of around 1.8 million parts from various manufacturers.

Venture Catalysts, which typically invests $250,000-$2 million in early stage startups, has invested in over 300 startups since inception. The firm recently made a partial exit from its portfolio startup Cusmat with over 4.2 x returns in less than three years. Beardo and PrimeOs are some of the notable exits of the firm.