Chinese third-party used car testing platform Autobole has raised RMB 32 milion (USD four million) in Series A financing. The lead investor is Green Pine Capital Partners, followed by returning investors such as Leili Capital, NetEase News reported on Wednesday.
The new round of funding will be used to expand Autobole’s second-hand car testing business to major cities in China within a year. The company received several million RMB in angel investment from Leili Capital last March.
Founded in 2014 in Shanghai, Autobole, which means “find good cars” in English, provides a door-to-door car testing service for users. The service covers second-hand car testing, troubleshooting and safety tests for individual users and companies.
Autobole co-founder Ge Bingnan told Chinese tech media site 36 Kr that second-hand car testing services are applicable to every aspect of the second-hand car market. The test data can reflect the different conditions of used cars and determine their value.
The platform’s service relies on the experience of trained engineers. The company analyzes and compares testing data to reduce reliance on testing engineers. It has developed a set of testing standards based on the quality standards of new cars from leading automobile manufacturers including General Motors and Mercedes-Benz.
The platform’s biggest rival is Guazi.com, a second-hand car trading platform spun off from China’s leading classfieds website Ganji.com. Guazi.com also provides second-hand car testing for users. In September, China’s Craiglist, 58.com, invested RMB one billion (USD 15.7 million) in the second-hand car trading business.
China’s second-hand car trading market is expanding. According to the China Automobile Dealers Association, the domestic second-hand car trading volume may top 10 million in 2015 and is likely to double by the end of 2020, with sales exceeding RMB one trillion.