Most car dealers in the Philippines are small, family-run businesses. Manila-based OneLot provides tech services to help independent dealerships source used vehicle inventory and do vehicle appraisals. OneLot also underwrites and disburses short-term working capital so dealers can acquire more inventory.
Since launching in 2023, OneLot has facilitated $7 million in business loans across 150 dealerships.
OneLot has raised $3.3 million in seed equity in a round led by Accion Ventures and 468 Capital. Everywhere Ventures, Seedstars, Crestone Venture Capital, Kaya Founders and several angel investors also participated.
Accion Ventures’ Rahil Rangwala told ImpactAlpha that OneLot is unlocking working capital for thousands of small business owners. “They’re building a new asset-backed lending category for a vital but long-ignored segment.”
Working capital
Inadequate public transportation makes it difficult for many Filipinos to commute to and from cities for work.
“But Filipino banks are not financing used cars,” OneLot’s Harm-Julian Schumacher told ImpactAlpha. “These family businesses could have anywhere from five to 50 cars, but they’re being left behind without support from institutions.”
With OneLot’s lines of inventory credit, “a dealer that has been working with us for a year can grow their sales between 30% and 40%,” Schumacher said.
Most of OneLot’s dealers, because they sell used vehicles, are trading gas-powered cars. Electric vehicles will show up as EV infrastructure improves and more EVs get recycled into the used car market, Schumacher said. OneLot’s focus is supporting the dealers in building their businesses.
Because OneLot’s loans are collateralized, it is able to offer lower rates on its financing than other non-bank financiers, Schumacher explained. OneLot reduces its rates as borrowers build their repayment track records with repeat loans. “
As we work longer with dealers and they become more predictable for us,” said Schumacher, “we reward the good ones.”
