Indonesian O2O automotive startup Otoklix raises US$10 mn Series A funding co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and AC Ventures

Published on December 17, 2021

Otoklix, an online-to-offline digital solution for automotive aftermarket services in Indonesia, today announced it has raised US$10 mn from Alpha JWC Ventures and AC Ventures with participation from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Ex-CEO of Indonesia’s largest automotive conglomerate Astra International Prijono Sugiarto, YouTube Co-founder Steve Chen and Google Executives in XA Network.

Founded in 2019, Otoklix bridges the gap between automotive vehicle owners and Indonesia’s fragmented independent car workshop sector, transforming the vehicle maintenance experience for consumers and equipping workshops with business software solutions and procurement savings.

Servicing and fixing cars is still a long and cumbersome process in this rapidly growing market. Visiting authorized dealers involves high costs and long queues. Getting cars fixed at independent workshops can expose car owners to fraud risk, lack of standardization, and poor after-sale service. Despite controlling 80% of the total market in Indonesia, many of these workshops still manage transactions with pen and paper, restraining growth and margins.

Otoklix simplifies vehicle maintenance for vehicle owners, allowing users to discover services at any recommended independent workshop nearby and receive a warranty for any transactions at an Otoklix partner workshop. For independent car workshops, Otoklix provides powerful customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) solutions to increase topline, margin, and operational efficiency.

“We believe that transparency and trust is the biggest issue in the market. Car owners struggle to understand where to take their car to be fixed and how much the service should cost. Simultaneously, workshops have limited access to information to conduct price comparisons for parts, sourcing needs, and suppliers’ credibility. This is a problem for all the 138 mn automotive vehicles in Indonesia, where it is a growing market that has been overlooked. This huge fragmentation in the market has a high potential for technological disruption,” says Martin Suryohusodo, Co-founder and CEO of Otoklix.

In the past year alone, Otoklix has grown from 100 to over 1,900 partnered workshops, providing services to more than 100,000 customers annually. With such progress, Otoklix is on a growth trajectory to become the largest and most trusted aftermarket service network in Indonesia — Southeast Asia’s largest market with a projection of 20 million cars on its roads in the next five years. With this fresh funding, Otoklix aims to improve its technological touchpoint by establishing its own O2O managed flagship workshop throughout Indonesia.

“Indonesia is home to 17 million cars, and auto servicing is vital to the industry. However, not much has been done to create a better service experience for users and empower non-franchised workshops. Through its all-in-one mobile application and its integrated ecosystem of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and workshops, Otoklix answers challenges faced by customers and workshops in one go. We are excited to join forces with Otoklix’s strong team to build the best company and product for the market,” says Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder, and General Partner, Alpha JWC Ventures.

“The massive auto-servicing industry is estimated at twice the size of annual auto sales at US$21 bn yet largely made up of traditional, small-scale workshops. Otoklix’s technology solution empowers these businesses with CRM and ERP systems that save costs and deliver superior customer service. Martin and team bring together strong execution experience within the specific domain expertise to make this very promising team and business to be an investor in,” said Adrian Li, Founder, and Managing Partner, AC Ventures.

Otoklix’s progress and potential have attracted strategic individual investors with industry expertise. Moreover, prior to this round, Otoklix has garnered support from GK Plug and Play, Kenangan Fund, Lentor Ventures, and Noble Star Ventures.

“We envision Otoklix to become the automotive partner of choice for vehicle owners in Indonesia, throughout the vehicles’ lifetime period, by ensuring a strong customer-brand throughout our tech-enabled ecosystem. Our ecosystem and technology are our strongest assets, which no other automotive companies have done in Indonesia. We are off to a great start, and we believe that we’re on the right trajectory to become the market leader here,” added Martin.