Automotive parts supply chain company "Gandu Auto Parts" announced the completion of a seed and angel round totaling tens of millions of RMB, with Source Code Capital leading the angel round.

源码资本·September 22, 2020·0·1

Over 100 international top-tier full-vehicle parts distributors and brand owners have joined the platform, with total SKUs exceeding 5 million.

Mannkando (hereinafter referred to as "Mannkando"), an auto parts supply chain company focused on overseas markets, announced that it has recently completed consecutive seed and angel funding rounds totaling tens of millions of RMB. The angel round was led by Source Code Capital, with Galaxy Universal following on. San Tou Liu Bi Auto Parts Chain invested in the seed round. Yiren Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor, and Shihui Partners acted as legal counsel for the company's financing.

Mannkando focuses on the European automotive aftermarket, aiming to build a comprehensive international B2B auto parts service platform powered by China's auto parts supply chain. Currently, Mannkando has established 10 self-operated service outlets and dozens of franchised outlets in Russia, with over 10,000 fast-moving SKU under its proprietary brand. The company has also attracted more than 100 international tier-one full-vehicle parts distributors and brands to its online platform, bringing the total platform SKU count to over 5 million. By the end of 2020, the company projects 100 frontline service outlets, over 10 million platform SKU, service coverage for more than 20,000 repair shops, reach to over 200,000 vehicle owners, and expansion into the Polish and German markets.

The European automotive aftermarket offers massive opportunity The "online e-commerce platform + offline distributed fulfillment nodes" model has significant potential

Data shows that the European auto parts industry output value exceeded €250 billion in 2019, making it the world's second-largest automotive aftermarket. Europe maintains steady GDP growth with per capita GDP ranking among the world's highest, indicating strong consumer purchasing power. The European market has 380 million vehicles in operation, with passenger car ownership exceeding 446 per 1,000 people and average vehicle age surpassing 10 years.

The European auto parts and repair market is dominated by independent channels, with traditional distributor models still mainstream. The supply chain is fragmented across upstream and downstream, with excessive distribution tiers and redundant middle layers leading to operational inefficiency and slow delivery times. The market as a whole has yet to achieve digital-driven transformation, making data visibility across the supply chain difficult.

Mannkando has developed a model combining "online centralized e-commerce trading platform with offline distributed fulfillment nodes." Customers place orders online, and parts move directly from factory to central warehouse to frontline warehouse before reaching repair shops — dramatically improving supply chain responsiveness and delivery speed. Frontline service nodes enable localized fulfillment, delivering a comprehensive upgrade across breadth, speed, quality, and cost.

With digitalization at its core, the company has already built out its digital infrastructure including the B2B auto parts e-commerce platform Mannkando Portal and the store-warehouse management system E-shop, enabling real-time market and user data visibility.

Most critically, Mannkando is backed by China's auto parts industry supply chain. As the world's most complete auto parts industry cluster, China's supply chain holds irreplaceable advantages in manufacturing processes, materials, and cost. Mannkando is positioned to leverage these supply chain strengths, using digitalization as its lever to deeply transform the European automotive aftermarket.

A China-Europe international team with deep roots in the European automotive aftermarket

Combining both industrial resources and internet capabilities

Supporting future high-speed growth

Mannkando founder and CEO Ali comes from Huawei's overseas operations, with over ten years of international marketing and management experience. He previously founded a successful European auto parts brand. Fluent in five foreign languages, he has deep understanding of auto parts products and the European market. His outstanding resource integration, strategic planning, and learning capabilities ensure the project continues to evolve in a positive direction.

Mannkando's founding team comprises senior executives and experts from the world's largest auto parts data platform, a top-three European auto parts distributor, Europe's largest auto parts e-commerce company, and China's auto parts supply chain sector, with an average of more than 15 years of industry experience. Local expertise combined with international perspective, plus ample overseas market expansion experience, enables the team to rapidly establish a foothold in Europe by fully leveraging China's supply chain advantages.

Years of immersion in the auto parts industry have forged the Mannkando team's resilient, bold, and proactive character. Their deep understanding of industry pain points and development trends drives the team to actively apply China's mature auto parts supply chain and data-driven growth experience. Going forward, the Mannkando team will maintain its learning mindset and continuous iteration to address the various challenges that come with high-speed growth.

Founder Ali stated: "The European auto parts market is large but traditional, with low industry efficiency and limited transparency between upstream and downstream players. However, repair shop technicians have well-established habits of consulting electronic auto parts catalogs, which means the industry has enormous room for transformation and consolidation — and the pandemic has accelerated the shift toward online development. Mannkando integrates China's high-quality supply chain, bypassing numerous middle layers to directly serve repair shops with a B2B e-commerce platform offering rich product categories, and delivers through frontline outlets so technicians can efficiently place orders while enjoying the fastest possible delivery experience. Mannkando is committed to becoming the best friend of European repair shops."

As a company director of Mannkando, Guan Fuqiang of Source Code Capital commented: "Auto parts distribution is a quintessential major track in industrial internet, and cross-border circulation advances the 'dual circulation' development pattern. Europe has large vehicle ownership and high average vehicle age, with a fragmented industry across upstream and downstream, offering massive room for consolidation. By leveraging China's leading high-quality supply chain and information technology advantages, Mannkando can substantially improve supply-demand matching efficiency; its outstanding localization capabilities enable terminal demand to go online, breaking through the information-brokerage bottleneck and category constraints of traditional cross-border B2B e-commerce. Moreover, the Mannkando team is a rare find in the overseas expansion space — a quality team that simultaneously possesses both 'internet + industry' capabilities and 'China + local' resources. Their exceptional resource integration and strategic abilities allow them to iterate and optimize proven business models based on local conditions, with the potential to reshape the European auto parts market landscape."