3 Years In, This M’sian Team Is Raising USD$1mil To Become SEA’s #1 Vehicle Super App
By VulcanPost, Joycelyn Tan December 3,2020
A continuation of SERV with VulcanPost - A call back to the coverage of SERV from the past, 3 years ago
The flash to the past of how SERV started out on their journey to become the #1 Vehicle Super App in South East Asia, and their plans for the future
SERV’S Founder, Mr Arief Imran featured in an event.
When great is never good enough, one can only continue to better themselves by innovating a company and industry as quickly as possible.
That’s a motto the team at SERV holds dear to their hearts.
They do this by putting their users first and taking their honest feedback seriously to better the quality of services on their app.
Since our last interview with them 3 years ago, they’ve been embracing competition to innovate faster, even thanking other players in the market for helping educate the public about the industry’s goals of innovating the local automotive sector.
So how has SERV been doing since we last featured them? Vulcan Post caught up with its founder, Arief Imran, to find out what else they have in store for SERV.
A Service Worth Sharing
SERV’s team at an event. Image credit: SERV
As mentioned above, SERV already had a few other servicing apps to compete with from the start.
Their differentiation finally came along upon launching their Digital Vehicle Ownership concept to the market.
What that means is that everything you need to know as a vehicle owner is consolidated into one app, phasing out the need to keep messy paperwork for both the app’s users and merchants.
This includes information about your vehicle’s service records, breakdown assistance, battery replacements, insurance and road tax details with renewals available at your fingertips.
Their latest feature, Drive-In, helped SERV acquire 200 merchants during the peak of MCO in June 2020.
It allows customers to essentially book appointments with nearby workshops to schedule for services and repairs through the app.
So instead of getting mechanics to travel to their clients’ location, the clients will come to their workshops instead.
Though not a new concept in the market, it’s an addition to its earlier version and a solution in digitizing the operational processes for workshops.
This was what helped convince the merchants to get on board, as the online payment transactions could reduce physical contact between both parties.
As of late, SERV has acquired over 11,000 users with a 76% activation rate, with most users being prone to sharing about their services with friends.
Dictionary Time: Activation Rate helps companies determine how quickly and effectively their new users are achieving perceived value. It measures the number of new users that have performed a predetermined “key action” within a set period of time, where the key action is assumed or known to deliver initial customer value.
Building A Supportive Network
SERV merely started as an idea in late 2016 when Arief began renting in a co-working space to gain access to MaGIC Online Academy’s programmes.
As a founder, it was important for him to acquire MaGIC’s support, seeing the value in how it would benefit his startup to learn more about the industry and its future.
Throughout the many years of SERV’s involvement with MaGIC, they’ve received immense support towards the development of the company.
The team had the opportunity to join a wide variety of MaGIC’s programmes such as Grill N Chill, MA Symposium, and their Global Accelerator Programme (GAP).
Arief and his colleague conducting a pitch. Image credit: SERV
Participating in GAP accelerated his knowledge in a plethora of subjects. They include product development, managing teams, marketing, partnerships, finances, investments, and pitching.
Meanwhile, MaGIC’s pitching event, Grill N Chill, helped Arief rope in some of the early adopters he needed when SERV was finally launched.
In the process, Arief was able to mingle with many local and international founders who helped in solidifying the overall concept of SERV, giving us the version that we know today.
A Drive To Be SEA’s #1 Vehicle Super App
Despite a lack of fundraising, Arief shared that SERV has been consistently growing over the past 3 years and believes that there’s no time like the present to achieve more.
They’ve recently opened up for investments targeting a maximum of USD$1 million, where half of the amount (USD$500k) will be raised over pitchIN.
With these funds, the team aims to become the #1 vehicle super app in Southeast Asia.
To systematically achieve this goal, smaller sub-goals have been set in stone by first aiming to acquire 2,000 merchants by 2021 in Malaysia.
Once that’s done, they plan to expand to other countries around the region. In addition, they will further diversify SERV’s services by adding more options for vehicle care.
That includes car washes, Tyre maintenance, air conditioning services, etc.
The team’s also got a lot to play with in terms of their Digital Vehicle Ownership features, as this lengthy process can be divided into 3 phases:
Pre-ownership,
Ownership,
Ownership transitions.
At the moment, SERV’s short-term plan is to focus on the ownership phase such as vehicle care, legal matters, and vehicle protection.
They will also be expanding their value propositions beyond maintenance at the same time.