The Future of Car Ownership: Spinny Spinning Its Way

Aakash Sharma — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 07:35:04 +0000

Spinny is a state-of-the-art technology-using car dealing platform that facilitates the sale and purchase of used vehicles. As indicated by its recent $65 million fundraising, the company is growing at rapid speeds. The start-up’s processes like thorough and transparent inspection of the car, buying it from the owner and then selling it to customers are addressing key customer concerns in the used car segment.

Spinny is removing traditional intermediaries from the equation by making the process cheaper and more reliable for consumers to buy used cars. If the customer is not content with the vehicle purchased from Spinny, they receive a full refund on the transaction.

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Spinny began its course as a marketplace for used cars, but the start-up has extended its offerings to become a full-stack platform.

Recently Raised Funds

The five-year-old start-up recently raised $65 million in funds as part of the Series C funding round. General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, led the new round of funding. This round of funding has brought Spinny’s previous total financing to over $120 million, and the start-up is now worth approximately $350 million from the earlier $150 million.

How Does Spinny Work?

In sync with the traditional cars’ online dealership platforms, Spinny also offers a wide variety of vehicle options. The difference is that Spinny’s whole process maintains transparency and accountability for car alternatives in real-time testing, features and reviews. The company publishes all data available for cars while developing a strict control process to reassure its customers’ satisfaction.

The company’s range of industry-first offerings includes Spinny Assured, meaning that it just does not sell pre-owned cars but engages with customers personally to grow and build relationships. Its inventory is varied, and people have the options to interact with Spinny for optimum recommendations as well as best fitted vehicles.

Spinny Technology: Changing the Market for Car Owners

The unique technology used by the company is Spinny 360: Redefining Transparency. Buying a used car is a very hectic process and requires careful consideration for any flaws. Spinny360 brings nuanced interactivity to the digital platform and allows customers to explore many options easily. Spinny360 will enable customers to see the exterior and interior of any Spinny Assured car on smartphones or computers- whatever the customer wishes to use.

Growth Prospects for Others in the Car Market

The used car market is expected to grow 22%, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2 million vehicles per year. During the coronavirus outbreak, the online used car market continued to thrive thanks to consumers’ choice for more exclusive but cheaper travel solutions. According to Deloitte, the expected growth rate of online shopping platforms for used cars (like Spinny) is 17-18% in the running fiscal year.

Some industry leaders, such as Mahindra First Choice Wheels, Cars24, CarWale and CarDekho, have entered the rural Indian markets by offering distribution rights and franchise rights, marking a shift in online and contactless sales.

This growth trend clearly provides a sustainable path for young entrepreneurs and budding start-ups in the industry. All that is needed to succeed is a good strategy with a qualified go-to-market plan.

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What can we learn from Tesla’s approach to innovation?

Shalmoli Sarkar — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 02:35:04 +0000

The world was mesmerised and kept people hooked on to the screens when the privately developed spaceflight by SpaceX ‘Crew Dragon’ completed its space voyage with a precise landing on the Atlantic Ocean. For the first time in the USA’s space mission that used to be primarily driven by NASA, we witnessed a new possibility where private companies like SpaceX could complete the space mission with a spaceflight that had minimal human interference. SpaceX’s success in space mission is a testimony that displays excellence driven by hard work, creativity, and innovation. Same in the automated car segment innovations from Tesla is an inspiration to many.

4 Key Innovations by Tesla

Speaking of the innovation displayed by SpaceX, there are numerous learnings for an entrepreneur to learn from Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla and SpaceX, who began with his entrepreneurial journey in the tech space with several ups and downs. Below are some that we can learn from Tesla’s approach to innovation:

Providing excellent customer service

Many companies fail here. Providing excellent customer service is central to receive repeat businesses. Tesla has a chain of dedicated service centers. Its service centers are powered by a mobile technical service named ‘Rangers’ who travels to customer’s residence to assess and repair any problems. Besides, the Rangers Tesla’s cars can wirelessly upload grievances or issues to the company to which the remote technical support team can attend to the problems and resolve the malfunctions.

Increasing the product demand

To stimulate demand for electric vehicles, a common concern for such vehicles is the power charging aspect. For this, Tesla has developed a vast network of supercharging stations where owners can charge cars for free and could increase the adoption rate of electric vehicles.

Unique sales model

Tesla did not follow the suit of franchisees, instead it sells directly to the consumers. It has developed its own showrooms and galleries. By gaining autonomy on the sales channels, Tesla wanted to provide a better consumer experience. Customers coming to the showroom will be dealt by Tesla-employed sales and service staff. They have also created showrooms which are a combination of retail and service centers. Tesla also leverages an online platform where customers can buy a tesla online.

Tesla -the risk-taker

Any new business would have adopted strategies firstly to conquer the mass market, but Tesla swam against the waves by not building products for the masses. Instead, it focussed on developing a compelling car that would create a demand for electric vehicles. Elon Musk believed that if he had followed the suit of building mass products, then, as a startup, Tesla could have never built a car with technology iterations and achieve no economies of scale. Elon was determined to introduce expensive electric cars that can be the best alternative against the gasoline cars. With this idea, Tesla introduced in the market, its first high-performance electric luxury car, the Tesla Roadster, which generated a whopping sales of 2500 cars.

What’s in it for Startups?

Had Tesla followed the same suit as their competitors of manufacturing products and solutions for the masses, it could have never been possible to carve out a niche for itself in the automobile market. Hence, startups and small businesses should always think doing things differently, be it providing customer service or developing solutions that add value.

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