(L-R) OneLot co-founders Tommy Campos, Harm-Julian Schumacher, and Subramaniam Srinivasan
OneLot, a Filipino lending company for used car dealers in the Philippines, has raised US$4 million in pre-seed funding led by 468 Capital.
Kaya Founders, Crestone Venture Capital, 21yield, Founders Launchpad, and unnamed angels also participated.
The company plans to use the funding to extend its services to more dealers as well as accelerate product and AI development.
OneLot was founded in 2023 by Harm-Julian Schumacher, Tommy Campos, and Subramaniam Srinivasan. The startup addresses the most pressing problem used car dealers face: the lack of access to credit.
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OneLot’s loan products are geared towards car dealers’ buy-and-sell cycles. It handles loan applications and disburses capital “in a matter of hours” by leveraging an AI-enabled underwriting algorithm.
“Our platform was designed with the dealer’s needs in mind, avoiding the lengthy and cumbersome procedures typical in financing. Thanks to our AI-driven processes, we offer higher credit limits, more competitive interest rates, and faster fund disbursement than any other provider in the market,” said OneLot CTO Srinivasan.
Since its launch earlier this year, OneLot claims it has disbursed over US$1.3 million in loans, financed over 200 cars, and has experienced 10x revenue growth through the second and third quarters of 2024.
“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 SME credit in the Philippines with decades of experience building digital products and AI,” said Guilherme Steinbruch, Partner at 468 Capital.
The Philippines is home to one of the fastest-growing used car markets in the world today. Strong growth in car sales is buoyed by rising income levels, greater demand from middle-income groups, and poor availability of public transportation.
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This US$8 billion industry is dominated by small dealerships and family-run businesses, which account for more than 90 per cent of car transactions. Meanwhile, banks only play a limited role in used car and dealership financing, leading to three times lower finance rates than in Europe or the US.
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