OneLot, a Philippine-based lending fintech company, said Monday that it has raised $4 million in pre-seed funding in an oversubscribed round led by 468 Capital.
OneLot said in a statement that other participants include Kaya Founders, Crestone Venture Capital, 21yield, Founders Launchpad, and notable angel investors.
“The company plans to use the latest funding to extend its services to more dealers as well as accelerate product and artificial intelligence (AI) development,” said Tommy Campos, Chief Operating Officer of OneLot.
According to him, once a dealer partners with OneLot, they can quickly expand their car inventory, leading to substantial increases in revenue and profitability.
“This is driving our customer retention rate, which exceeds 95 percent,” he added.
OneLot was founded by Harm-Julian Schumacher, Tommy Campos, and Subramaniam Srinivasan, who first came together in 2021 to build DART, a quick commerce grocery delivery app.
The firm specializes in offering working capital financing exclusively to used car dealers.
Its innovative approach allows dealers to access funding based on a pre-approved credit line, determined by a data-driven and AI-enabled assessment of their business.
This financial support enables dealers to expand their inventory, cater to a broader customer base, and ultimately boost their profitability.
Since its launch earlier this year, the firm has disbursed over $1.3 million in loans, financed more than 200 cars, and has experienced 10 times revenue growth through the second and third quarters of 2024.
For Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Harm-Julian Schumacher, the challenges faced by Philippine car dealers resonate deeply with his own personal experience growing up around his family’s car dealership business in Germany.
“I experienced firsthand how German financial institutions supported family-run dealerships like ours with a variety of loan solutions throughout the value chain, enabling them to accelerate their growth,” he noted, adding that Germany is a market feature that inspired the OneLot model to empower similar businesses in the Philippines.
It is noted that the Philippines is home to one of the fastest-growing used car markets in the world today, with strong growth in car sales buoyed by rising income levels, greater demand from middle-income groups, and poor availability of public transportation.
This $8 billion industry is dominated by small dealerships and family-run businesses that account for more than 90% of car transactions.
Meanwhile, banks are playing only a limited role in used car and dealership financing, leading to three times lower finance rates compared to Europe or the United States.
OneLot’s loan products are geared towards the buy-and-sell cycles of car dealers, offering an unparalleled level of customer-centricity and flexibility.
They handle loan applications and disburse capital in a matter of hours by leveraging an AI-enabled underwriting algorithm
“We saw the potential of OneLot to address significant problems in the rapidly growing used car market,
“The team combines in-depth knowledge about car dealerships and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit in the Philippines with decades of experience building digital products and AI,” noted Guilherme Steinbruch, Partner at 468 Capital.
According to him, OneLot’s early success in penetrating this untapped market has validated major appetite for used car and dealership financing.
468 Capital is a technology investment firm focused on supporting entrepreneurs with global ambitions.
Founded in 2020, the firm invests in category defining businesses. The team at 468 Capital has a history of building, operating, and investing in successful technology companies.
With offices in Berlin and San Francisco, 468 Capital provides strategic and financial support to entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses internationally.
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