Pitch Best Small Cap 2019: Autotech Ventures – Fixico
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Date deal closed
12 juni 2019
Published value
7 million
Buyer
Autotech Ventures
Target
Fixico
Seller
Fixico shareholders
Involved firms and advisors sell side: (Financial, Legal, Transaction Services etc.)
IMPROVED Corporate Finance / Drake Star Partners Van Campen Liem
Involved firms and advisors target: (Financial, Legal, Transaction Services etc.)
IMPROVED Corporate Finance / Drake Star Partners Van Campen Liem
Involved firms and advisors buy side: (Financial, Legal, Transaction Services etc.)
DLA Piper
Brief description deal / Deal outline
Fixico, an innovative online platform for car damage repair, has raised €7 million to grow its international footprint, fleet, and insurance partnerships. The Dutch technology company offers a digital platform that seamlessly handles car repair for consumers, insurers, and fleet owners, providing them with full control at every step in the repair process.
The €7 mn funding round was led by Autotech Ventures, an early backer of Nasdaq Stock listed Lyft (LYFT), a top competitor of Uber (NYSE:UBER), and other successful startups like Frontier Car Group and Outdoorsy. Autotech Ventures’ Managing Partner Alexei Andreev joins Fixico’s Supervisory Board. Previous investors, such as serial entrepreneur Laurens Groenendijk (JustEat, Treatwell, Hiber) and Orange Growth Capital also participated in this round, bringing the total amount of funding to €14.3 mn to date.
Fixico is currently active in the Benelux, Germany, and South Africa, working with one of Europe’s largest independent, high-quality repair networks of 2,000 shops in total. Thanks to a strong foothold in the consumer space, Fixico made its first decisive steps in the international business-to-business market in 2018 and now is poised to scale up further across Europe rapidly. Autotech’s (et al.) fresh capital will be employed to accelerate this growth and strengthen Fixico’s B2B solutions.
Deal rationale
Since its inception, Fixico has developed into a strong, scalable company with one of the most high-quality cross-border body repair shop networks. The automotive aftermarket is undergoing a technological disruption and Fixico is the clear frontrunner in the car damage repair segment. Fixico’s innovative solution that digitizes an otherwise cumbersome process gained significant momentum in the B2C space. However, Fixico recognized the huge value proposition for insurance, fleet- and rental companies.
With a proven consumer and partner track record in place, an accelerated international roll-out strategy was triggered accordingly. Fresh capital from a new international financial investor, preferably with automotive expertise, was needed to accelerate Fixico’s growth and strengthen its B2B solutions. Fixico is now able to leverage Autotech’s unrivalled mobility intelligence and network to rapidly scale, and become the clear winner in car damage repair solutions.
What is the impact of this deal for the company?
Next to fresh capital to accelerate Fixico’s growth and strengthen its B2B solutions, the investment comes with an internationally renowned shareholder for many years to come. The company evolves from a Dutch high-growth company into a Silicon Valley-backed company with the ability, means, network, and power to accelerate internationally. Especially because the car damage repair space is one of the few areas in the value chain with a low number of investments or acquisitions, partnering with Autotech is setting Fixico up for success.
What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?
The investment from Autotech has a huge impact on Fixico’s stakeholders. For example, its customers now have the reassurance that Fixico is in it for the long-run and will be able to scale all over the globe. With the means to realize the envisioned growth, Fixico’s employees have additional opportunities and are part of an extremely ambitious and professional organization. Lastly, Fixico’s management and shareholders are now supported by an investor with a thorough understanding of automotive technology and with an impressive track record of scaling technology companies.
What is the impact of this deal on the society?
In the car damage repair space, it seems as if time has stood still. The driver’s customer journey is still inconvenient and time-consuming. It involves numerous calls, emails, physical inspections, paperwork, and so on. Yet today’s consumer expects a seamless experience, via a few simple clicks, like booking a taxi or a hotel. Fixico offers an innovative and fully digital way to handle car damage repairs. Fleet and insurance partners can use this platform as an intelligent repair tendering/ steering mechanism, to lower cost and cycle times, and gain real-time insights.
“We’re continuously looking for promising companies in the mobility sector globally and believe that the model across the value chain that Fixico is building has the potential to change a 70 billion market. The team is outstanding, and we are looking forward to supporting Fixico’s international expansion and building a global category winner,” said Alexei Andreev, Managing Director at Autotech Ventures.
Why does this deal deserve a nomination?
Autotech is most likely the very best partner for helping Fixico to the next phase(s). Their knowledge, expertise, network, and value-creating support is unmatched. With this deal, we once again displayed that IMPROVED Corporate Finance/Drake Star Partners is becoming the hub for connecting Silicon Valley investors to our very innovative Dutch technology growth companies. With the global responsibility for the verticals Mobility, Smart City, and Energy Transition, we are happy with yet another proof point.
