Carmen Automotive’s predictive tech prevents unexpected vehicle breakdowns; raises US$730K
Carmen Automotive, a Big Data analytics company in Singapore that serves automotive insurers and servicing centres, has raised S$1 million (US$730,000) in pre-Series A round of funding, led by local investment firm Silicon Solution Ventures (SSV), with participation from SEEDS Capital.
Carmen will use the money to increase the deployment of its products across Southeast Asia, starting with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. It has sights set on the regional market of over 100 million cars.
The firm’s customers include fleet operators, motor insurance providers, auto dealers and auto garage Servicing retail channels. Data is used to increase their sales and allow them to know when to engage customers at the right time.
Founded in 2014, Carmen Automotive’s predictive technology reads real-time data (including battery life, fault codes, fuel efficiency, mileage) via its proprietary On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD II) hardware. Continuous analytics is automatically performed on the data that is pushed to the cloud backend through the Bluetooth connection to the driver’s smartphone. Both the driver and the repair centre are alerted to potential problems before they occur, allowing service centres to engage customers timely to prevent unexpected vehicle breakdowns.
The company’s current customers include fleet operators, automotive insurers, auto dealers and garage servicing channels.
“Carmen has managed to come this far thanks to the staff that has stuck with us over the years, as well as our investors’ support. We have accumulated much feedback from our early adopters and will continually work towards optimising our products to increase user satisfaction,” said Sem Chong, CEO and Founder of Carmen Automotive.
Carmen Automotive has previously raised a seed round from TRIVE.
The firm is looking to raise its Series A within the next 12 months.
SSV is an investment fund set up in Singapore and is one of the Seeds Capital appointed partner and is managed by Silicon Solution Partners.
As the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital supports the growth of promising Singapore-based startups. It focuses on startups in nascent and strategic industries such as advanced manufacturing & engineering (AME), health & biomedical sciences (HBMS), and urban sustainability & solutions (USS). It also looks at other emerging technologies such as fintech, Artificial Intelligence, and agritech.
Currently, SEEDS work with more than 500 deeptech startups, and over 40 incubators, accelerators and VC firms.