Any Two-Wheeler owners will be aware of long bills while servicing. On top of this, lack of transparency & quality forces consumers to service their two-wheeler from authorized garages. Protto helps two-wheeler owners save 40% on service as compared to authorized garages.
Protto was derived from two words Pro & Auto. Protto was started by 2 engineers who were in constant search of quality & affordable servicing options for two-wheelers. After getting constantly billed Rs. 5000 for a two-year-old two-wheeler Kunjan understood the need in the market. There were still gaps in the idea then, having worked in CredR for a year Kunjan understood the nuts & bolts of the two-wheeler market. After this, Kunjan left his steady job to partner with Allan to start Protto. In Sept 2018, Protto began operations by partnering with 3 workshops in Mumbai.
Kunjan has worked with CredR – A used two-wheeler marketplace & Allan was a technology consultant & has worked with startups like Medikabazaar. The Founding Team has combined experience of 15 years in Automobile & Technology.
Market Insights
There are over 220M Two-Wheelers in India & over 2M Two-Wheelers are sold in India every year making it the largest Two-Wheeler Market in the World. Over 70% of Two-Wheelers that are out of warranty (i.e. 125M Two-Wheelers) are being serviced by Independent Garages. The Average yearly spent on Two-Wheeler maintenance is $65 including spare parts & service. With 125M two-wheeler, the unorganized two-wheeler service market size stands at $8 billion annually.
The Secret Sauce
“We partner with Independent Garages & convert them into a Protto Branded Garage offering them Best Operational Practices, Tech Support & Procurement Support from OEMs. This enables garages to generate 40% incremental revenue,” said Kunjan
To scale rapidly, Protto has partnered with B2B clients like Jubilant Foodworks, HDFC ERGO, Reliance General Insurance, Digit Insurance, & more. Currently, 40% of Protto’s business is from B2B Clientele.
“Unlike other lead generation platforms, from day one we wanted to focus on customer experience & the only way to achieve it was to add value to the entire value chain. We focused on spare part procurement & experience delivery at the partner garages to own the experience delivery” – Kunjan
How does Protto work?
The customer starts by creating a booking on the web or app. A Garage Partner is assigned to the customer based on the locality and the make of the two-wheeler. Once the two-wheeler reaches the garage, garage partners inspect the two-wheeler to check for any additional problems. Based on the inspection, a job sheet (consisting of any additional part replacement or repairs) is prepared and is shared with the customer digitally. Customers can choose to approve the job sheet else a representative can consult the customer about the job sheet to help them make an informed decision. Once the job sheet has been approved by the customer, the Garage partner now completes the jobs on the job sheet and prepares the two-wheeler for delivery. Every Protto Service comes with a Warranty making it the only brand in the market providing a warranty on Two-Wheeler Service.
“Protto is a business with both Bits & Atoms (Atoms Largely). Initially, we could not see through how technology will play a crucial role. After understanding requirements from Partner workshops & customers, we have created technology that is not only stakeholder-centric but also helps users to figure out the right maintenance plan that is right for them.” – Allan
Traction
Starting from 10 Garages in Western Suburbs in Mumbai with Revenue of 80 Lacs in FY20 to Partnering with over 100+ Garages across 6 Cities with Revenue in the neighborhood of over 2 Crs in FY21.
Protto generates revenue from 2 revenue streams. Firstly, by supplying spare parts to the garage & second by helping the garage generate two-wheeler service leads. The startup claims it is already profitable & plans to add other revenue streams down the road.
With a 30% MOM Growth in Customer, Protto is planning expansion to 10 cities by the end of FY23 & aiming at revenue of more than 20 Crs. Protto is currently present in 6 cities viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Navi-Mumbai, Thane & Kalyan.
Getting Future Ready
As we know that the future mobility will happen on EVs, to make sure Protto is not losing out on the opportunity in the EV market. It has partnered with EV manufacturers to help them provide EV services leveraging Protto Garage Network. EV Manufacturers help Protto with Training Mechanics with EV Service, this keeps the Partner Workshop on top of the growing trend in new EV Technology.
Impact
Protto is enabling the largest community of mechanics to earn their livelihood. The vast network of garages employs a number of skilled mechanics. With the growth of EVs in the Indian market, upgrading the knowledge of the current technicians as well as increasing employability of the young population is the need of the hour. All their garage partners get support in recruitment by Protto’s partnership with leading Auto Training Institutes.
