This Bengaluru startup aims to bring affordable personal mobility to Indians

Two-wheelers are the first choice for any Indian family and young commuters. These vehicles are easy to use for commuting in dense traffic, where public transport is insufficient or unreliable. 

“But, there is no good reason to buy a new two-wheeler. New bike prices are increasing rapidly, and their value drops significantly after purchase in the initial two to three years. Refurbished two-wheelers with manufacturer-like warranty are the most value-for-money entry point into personal mobility.. BeepKart takes a digital-first approach to solve for the historic lack of trust and convenience in the used two-wheeler market. An online journey is apt for this category and the young target market,” says Co-founder and CEO Hemir Doshi.

Founded in 2020 by Hemir and Abhishek Saraf, the Bengaluru-based mobility startup digitally sells as-good-as-new, value-for-money two-wheelers. 

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It claims to provide the same trust and convenience as a two-wheeler manufacturer, and more. 

The startup offers a one-year warranty on its vehicles, three free services in the year, a fixed price and transparent quality report of the vehicles, valuable enhancements by replacing worn-out items, a no-questions-asked three-day (or 100kms) return option, and a buy-back scheme. 

BeepKart also offers its buyers loan and insurance options for its refurbished two-wheelers.

How it works

BeepKart buys used two-wheelers from individual sellers after 80+ inspection checks. The startup refurbishes the bikes to make them as good as new at a value-for-money price. At present, the startup outsources its repairing jobs but will set up its own refurbishment centre soon.

“Our wide range of bike models from leading brands, along with detailed photographs and transparent information about their condition, are listed online,” Hemir says. 

Customers can conveniently browse the various options, reserve their preferred bike for a refundable Rs 499, and ask for a test drive at their home or walk-in to BeepKart’s hub. 

After the test drive, they can check the documents, pay the balance amount, and ride away immediately in their vehicle. 

In eight months, BeepKart has already sold 11 brands and nearly 100 varieties of two-wheeler models. The startup’s selection consists of scooters, commuter bikes, and performance bikes.

The full-stack mobility startup prices its vehicles depending on multiple factors, including brand, model, manufacturing year, etc. Typically, a buyer will get a value-for-money BeepKart two-wheeler with a warranty, saving Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 compared to a new one.

“We buy from individuals, refurbish, and sell to individuals with our warranty using a heavily online journey. Since vehicles are a high involvement category, full-stack retail has been the most successful and profitable business model in vehicle ecommerce globally, including startups like Spinny, Kavak, Carvana, Vroom, Cazoo, etc.,” Hemir adds.

BeepKart claims that nearly 100 percent of its sales have been profitable since day one.

Hemir says, “Bikes are quoted at a fixed retail price, as expected from organised retail brands, so you don’t have to worry about haggling and the related mistrust. We drive an online user journey and take a data-driven approach to enable an authentic and super-convenient experience for bike buyers and sellers.” 

The team

With a Master’s degree in Operations Research from Georgia Tech, Hemir has helped build two category-leading companies during his 15-year career. He was one of the co-founders of tech venture capital firm IDG Ventures India since 2006.

On the other hand, Abhishek was the Business Head - B2B, Shuttl, a bus shared-mobility company. The IIT Bombay alum also had a SaaS venture in the construction tech space. 

In 2019, Hemir and Abhishek were at crossroads. Both had an ambition of building a massive business again, that could potentially IPO someday. 

BeepKart has 40 members in its team who have backgrounds in serial entrepreneurship, building category leaders and consumer-loved products, fast scaling startup operations, automobile industry, and tech venture capital.

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The present and future

According to UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI), Indian two-wheeler market unit sales stood at 21.2 million units in 2019. It is expected to reach 26.6 million unit sales by 2025, displaying a reasonable CAGR of 2.6 percent over the forecast period (2020-2025). As in the case of the used cars market, the used two-wheeler market volume is larger than the new two-wheeler market and expected to grow much faster.

“Two-wheelers lend themselves to an online journey far more than cars. They are a simpler product for buyers to understand online, their average selling price is as much as a smartphone and the decision to buy and sell a two-wheeler is taken lot more quickly than cars. The target market is also younger and very online for various other products and services. There isn't any full-stack online retail model for used two-wheelers. In a market where sellers and buyers have been poorly treated over years, there has been a lot of low hanging fruit for a company with the right value system and digital strategy,” Hemir tells YourStory.

BeepKart raised $4 million in seed funding — $3 million in venture equity from Stellaris, Chiratae, and several tech entrepreneurs in September 2021 and $1 million in venture debt from Innoven Capital in January 2022.

“Our north star metric as a digital consumer brand is the buyer-side net promoter score (NPS). Our score has been very high so far. Buyers and sellers are converting quickly and routinely recommending BeepKart to others.,” he adds.

At present, BeepKart wants to build its playbook thoroughly in Bengaluru. “With a strong online and operating playbook and a leadership team in place, scaling geographically will be the next step,” says Hemir.

BeepKart sells to customers wanting to move away from public transport to personal mobility. It also caters to a large segment of new two-wheeler buyers, who would much rather buy a used two-wheeler, provided there was a trusted and convenient option available.

It claims about 90 percent of its buyers are under 40 years of age, and two-thirds of them are under 30. At present, about 65 percent of its buyers are white-collar workers and students.

It competes with the likes of OLX, BikeDekho, and CredR.