Truebil's Co-Founder Shubh Bansal Reveals Plans to Move to Tier-1 & 2 Cities

Truebil.com was founded in 2015 and it is currently present in Mumbai and Bangalore. The firm purchases used vehicles from owners, which are then refurbished and sold on the site as a more premium option. In Feb 2017, Truebil raised $3 million in funding and revealed its plans of investing the capital in operations, infrastructure and R&D. Till date, the company has raised a total funding of $8.64M in 3 Rounds from 6 Investors.

BWDisrupt's Soumya Gupta spoke to Shubh Bansal, Co-founder and Chief of Marketing, Truebil to know more about their expansion plans.

Edited Excerpts from the Interview-

Truebil raised $3 million in Feb 2017, how are you utilizing that funding amount?

We will be using the proceeds of the funding primarily towards skill development in terms of hiring and training programs as well as improving technology to provide better service and customers. The investment will further drive the expansion of our operations and will become the defining block in unprecedented business activity for Truebil.

What developments you have in mind for the upcoming months in 2017?

We are planning to multiply into more markets beyond Mumbai & Bangalore. At present, Delhi is on our priority list by the end of 2017 followed by expansion plans in the tier 1 and tier 2 cities in near future. Apart from this, we are also aiming to improve our technology to ensure better services to our users and enable them in making knowledgeable decisions related to car ownership.

What is the success mantra of Truebil's team?

We believe in ensuring a satisfied consumer experience and to make it possible, we handhold our buyers and sellers throughout the entire transaction process. Also, before venturing into a particular market or city, we make sure to do a lot of research and study so that he head towards the right direction and are able to grow steadily. Our success Mantra is Tortoise theory. This has always worked for us.

Tell us about your new feature TrueScore, how does it work?

A customer is always apprehensive about his decision to buy a second-hand vehicle. There are customers who end up paying more money without identifying the shortcomings in a used car. This is when TrueScore comes to the rescue as an efficient rating meter which takes into account several factors, including the price and history of the car before it gets listed for sale on our platform.

The rating is calculated based on the factors like the age, mileage, number of previous owners, the condition of the car (stratified into the exterior, interior, engine, driving experience and tyres), the post-purchase cost burden (condition and insurance status)and the price of the car. As per the numeric index, on the scale of 0 to 5, higher the rating of the vehicle, better the condition of the car.

Truebil's Bangalore launch has happened, tell us about the marketing efforts put in?

We launched our operation in Bangalore in the month of November, 2016. After a thorough market research, we have deemed Bangalore as the perfect start for our expansion spree as a lot of people in the city are young and migrants relocating for jobs in MNCs. They prefer buying used cars over brand new cars and Truebil facilitates a hassle-free buying experience for those who are eyeing to buy a value-for-money vehicle.

We launched the city with starting with just the performance marketing i.e digital marketing on google and Facebook. The sole focus is to capture leads and churn them from our customer support center. It's a very pointed result oriented approach which helps us keeping our customer acquisition cost tremendously low. Once we have achieved significant scale in the city we explore Branding side of the marketing via Radio, digital videos etc to create top of the mind recall.

What do you look forward to do with Truebil Direct?

Truebil Direct has been launched to help buyers choose and purchase pre-owned cars of the finest quality without worrying about aspects such as correct value, post-purchase dejection and long waiting periods for possession.

Those, who wish to sell their cars urgently can get upfront quotes and Truebil Direct buys the car instantly. Its unique park-and-sell service allows them to park their cars at the Truebil Direct offline stores where we offer complete selling assistance.Meanwhile, the car buyers get to assess the condition and performance of a car directly by requesting for a 20-minute test drive. The entire purchasing process is easy and quick, without having the need of any prior appointments or unwanted negotiations.

What kind of hiring trends are seen at Truebil?

We at Truebil are very agile and have a very lean team that works mostly in cross-functional roles. We conduct training programs for the existing employees, which helps them to improve performance. However, we will be conducting campus drives in the next placement season once we achieve a significant scale.

What's your growth strategy?

We support our sellers and buyers throughout the entire transaction process to ensure a satisfied consumer experience. This unique strategy is driving Truebil towards a 20% growth MoM with more than 3000 verified cars registered on its portal.