New Zealand-based startup Partly has reportedly raised USD 21 million in a Series A funding round to continue expanding in Europe where the majority of its clientele exists. Octopus Ventures served as the Series A lead for Partly. In addition to Shasta, other investors who engaged in the deal were Blackbird, Square Peg, Ten13, Hillfarrance, Square Co-Founder Randy Redigg, and I2BF, along with participation from current financiers like Notion Co-Founder Akshay Kothari, Figma CEO Dylan Field, and Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck.

Moreover, the company intends to alleviate the limits of auto parts availability by linking component buyers all across the world as consumers have precise requirements for components that suit their automobiles.

The two-year-old startup is not an auto parts marketplace. Instead, it serves the United Nations, a few undisclosed Fortune 500 corporations, along with online retailers like eBay and Shopify, with a database of more than 50 million components from more than 20,000 suppliers and OEMs.

According to co-founder and CEO Levi Fawcett, the data is pushed into key platforms that customers are already using to identify car components by working with the suppliers to absorb, structure, and standardize them.

Notably, Partly also plans to utilize the money to expand more quickly in the United States, where it is currently hiring and setting up an office. The money will mostly be used to assist the company increase its engineering staff to work on the fundamental issue of compiling all the correct components of a vehicle based solely on a license plate.

Fawcett added that Partlys team of 50 should have more than 100 employees by the end of the following year.

Beyond expanding its business, the startup also aims to represent New Zealand internationally. The business expects to become the largest NZ-based tech company within five years, with top-tier clients, and no direct rivals. To do so, it will have to compete with Xero, which is publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and apparently has a market cap of about USD 7.4 billion.

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https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/12/ex-rocket-lab-engineer-raises-21m-for-partly-to-make-buying-car-parts-easier/?guccounter=1