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On Tue, 18 Feb, 8:02 AM UTC
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Gurugram-Based Spyne Secures $16 Million in Series A Funding to Expand U.S. Operations
The round was led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from existing investors like Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital. Spyne, a deep tech startup based in Gurugram, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures. Over the next few years, the company will expand from 1,500 to over 20,000 dealer rooftops in the U.S. Existing investors Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital participated in this round. In his LinkedIn post, co-founder and CEO Sanjay Varnwal highlighted the company's evolution from a visual merchandising platform to a comprehensive automotive retail solution powered by GenAI. Spyne has demonstrated consistent performance with a substantial revenue figure of $18.4 million. "We've seen a 5X surge in revenue in the last 15 months, and we're aiming for a 3-4X revenue leap this year," Varnwal mentioned further. This comes after the Indian government announced the Deep Tech Fund of Funds to catalyse the next generation of Indian startups. The company plans to develop a GenAI-powered unified automotive retail solution that will streamline the retail journey for dealerships. Varnwal stated, "This investment marks a pivotal moment for Spyne as we accelerate our U.S. expansion and push the boundaries of what AI can do for automotive retail." The new capital will enable Spyne to build a dedicated U.S. business development team and strengthen its presence in high-growth regions across EMEA and APAC, the company said. Piyush Kharbanda, general partner at Vertex Ventures, noted that Spyne addresses fundamental pain points for auto dealerships by leveraging AI to optimise vehicle merchandising. In the past month, many deep tech startups have backed funding for their operations. Bengaluru-based Dynolt Technologies bagged $1.7 million in its seed funding round, led by Transition VC, with participation from marquee angel investor Yashowardhan Shah. Additionally, Astrome Technologies secured $10 million in a funding round led by Apollo Fund, with additional investments from the IAN Group.
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Spyne raises $16 million in round led by Vertex Ventures
Existing investors Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital also participated in the funding round of the automotive-focused visual technology startup.Automotive-focused visual technology startup Spyne has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures. The round also witnessed participation from existing investors Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital. The Gurugram-based company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its presence in the US while also growing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific. It is also developing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions to optimise automotive retail operations. "We are expanding very aggressively in the US and aim to capture 3,000-4,000 dealers this year from the 70,000-80,000-dealer market there. Over the next three years, we aim to get closer to 15,000-20,000 dealer rooftops on our platform," Sanjay Varnwal, cofounder and CEO of Spyne, told ET. The company will increase investments in research and development (R&D), focusing on 3D visualisation frameworks, showroom configurators, and augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) solutions, Varnwal added. As part of its US expansion, the company is building a dedicated business development team, including a country head, account executives, and customer success professionals. Founded in 2020 by Varnwal and Deepti Prasad, Spyne specialises in AI-powered visual merchandising, helping car dealerships create professional images, 360-degree spin videos, and automated marketing content for online vehicle listings. With this funding, Spyne has now raised around $27 million in total since its inception. It is also developing a GenAI-powered automotive retail solution, covering vehicle sourcing, pricing, digitisation, and customer management. Spyne currently serves over 1,200 dealers worldwide, with 70% of its business coming from the US, followed by Europe at nearly 25%. Initially, Spyne operated as a merchandising platform for multiple industries, including automotive, food, ecommerce, and real estate. However, in 2023, it pivoted to focus entirely on automotive. Over the past 15 months, the company claims to have grown fivefold and is targeting a threefold revenue increase by FY26. "At Vertex, we have had a longstanding thesis around specialised AI applications solving vertical use cases. Spyne has proven this in solving a fundamental pain point for auto dealerships leveraging AI to optimise vehicle merchandising and retail operations at scale," said Piyush Kharbanda, general partner at Vertex Ventures SEAI. In January, another automotive-focused 3D visualisation startup, Eccentric, raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round co-led by Exfinity Venture Partners and Arkam Ventures, as it looks to expand its global footprint.
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Spyne Bags $16 Mn To Build GenAI Suite For Automotive Dealers
Having grown revenue 5X in the last 12-15 months, Spyne aims to establish a dedicated US team and is exploring acquisition opportunities in inventory, software and digital marketing segments Bengaluru-based automotive SaaS startup Spyne has secured $16 Mn (around INR 131 Cr) in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures, along with participation from existing investors like Accel, Storm Ventures and Alteria Capital. The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital for expanding its presence in the US market, boosting technology infrastructure and developing GenAI-powered retail suite for automotive dealers. "We are looking to set up a small focused team in the US which will target larger OEMs and dealership groups," Sanjay Varnwal, cofounder of Spyne, told Inc42. Founded in 2020 by Varnwal and Deepti Prasad, Spyne offers AI-powered visual merchandising solutions for auto dealers. The startup has developed proprietary technology that transforms raw car photos into studio-quality images with automated damage detection. "Product is very superior. We started with image, got into 360 next, then video like a TikTok-style video with voiceover. We are getting into 3D generation of cars, 3D configurator, showrooms," Varnwal explained. The company plans to expand from its current base of 1,200 dealers to over 3,000 in the next 12 months, with an ambitious target of reaching 20,000 dealers in the next 3-4 years. Beyond visual merchandising, Spyne is now building a comprehensive retail suite. "We are looking to build software which will unify the entire software stack with very new age GenAI doing most of the work for dealers - starting from sourcing to eventually customer management," Varnwal said. The startup claims to have grown its revenue 5X in the last 12-15 months while maintaining operational efficiency. "We were running in a very efficient, operationally profitable zone. Because we are now aggressively growing, we will delay profitability by another 5-6 months," Varnwal added. Currently at 180 employees, Spyne plans to expand to 220-230 people, focusing mainly on its US team. The company is also exploring acquisition opportunities, including small inventory providers, software companies, and digital marketing firms in the US. Spyne's Series A funding round follows its $7 Mn funding in April 2022, which was led by Accel with participation from Storm Ventures and Smile Group. The startup raised INR 4.5 Cr in a Pre-Series A funding round in May 2020 led by AngelList. Spyne competes with established players like CDK Global, Cox Automotive and Solara in the US market, which generate software revenues of around $1.7 Bn. The company is targeting another funding round in the next 12-18 months to fuel its aggressive expansion plans. Indian AI startups continue to attract significant investments. Last week, ArthAlpha, an investment tech platform raised $2 Mn to build AI-powered research tools. In January 2025, Gurugram's ProcureYard raised $1.72 Mn in seed funding from Powerhouse Ventures, achieving profitability with INR 300 Cr annual recurring revenue within 18 months. In the same month, Bengaluru's Quash secured $635K in pre-seed funding from Arali Ventures for its mobile app testing platform, while Mumbai-based Klassroom raised pre-Series A funding from ah! Ventures, reporting 35% EBITDA profitability. Inc42 data shows Indian AI startups have raised over $600 Mn since 2019, with the GenAI market expected to reach $17 Bn by 2030, indicating strong investor confidence across sectors.
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Gurugram-based Spyne raises $16 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered automotive retail solutions, with a focus on US market expansion and development of GenAI-powered tools.
Spyne, a Gurugram-based deep tech startup specializing in AI-powered visual merchandising for the automotive industry, has successfully raised $16 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from existing investors Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital 123.
The fresh capital will primarily fuel Spyne's ambitious expansion plans in the United States. The company aims to increase its presence from the current 1,500 dealer rooftops to over 20,000 in the next few years 1. Sanjay Varnwal, co-founder and CEO of Spyne, outlined more immediate goals: "We are expanding very aggressively in the US and aim to capture 3,000-4,000 dealers this year from the 70,000-80,000-dealer market there" 2.
Spyne has demonstrated impressive growth, with a reported 5X surge in revenue over the past 15 months. The company is targeting a further 3-4X revenue increase in the coming year 13.
Founded in 2020 by Sanjay Varnwal and Deepti Prasad, Spyne has evolved from a visual merchandising platform to a comprehensive automotive retail solution powered by Generative AI (GenAI) 1. The company's proprietary technology transforms raw car photos into studio-quality images with automated damage detection 3.
Spyne is now developing a GenAI-powered unified automotive retail solution that aims to streamline the entire retail journey for dealerships. This suite will cover various aspects of automotive retail, including vehicle sourcing, pricing, digitization, and customer management 123.
With the new funding, Spyne plans to increase investments in research and development, focusing on:
The company is also exploring the integration of GenAI to automate various aspects of automotive retail operations 3.
While Spyne is aggressively targeting the US market, which currently accounts for 70% of its business, the company also has a significant presence in Europe, contributing nearly 25% to its operations. The new capital will enable Spyne to strengthen its position in high-growth regions across Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific 12.
In the US market, Spyne faces competition from established players like CDK Global, Cox Automotive, and Solara, which generate software revenues of around $1.7 billion 3. To fuel its aggressive expansion plans, Spyne is considering another funding round in the next 12-18 months 3.
Piyush Kharbanda, General Partner at Vertex Ventures, expressed confidence in Spyne's approach: "Spyne has proven this in solving a fundamental pain point for auto dealerships leveraging AI to optimize vehicle merchandising and retail operations at scale" 2.
As Spyne continues to innovate and expand, it exemplifies the growing trend of AI startups in India attracting significant investments, with the GenAI market expected to reach $17 billion by 2030 3.
Reference
[1]
Analytics India Magazine
|Gurugram-Based Spyne Secures $16 Million in Series A Funding to Expand U.S. Operations[2]
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