GloveboxDirect.com, a pre-launch online automotive marketplace that will give consumers access to a wider range of car and bike parts, has completed its first round of fundraising – raising more than £180,000 from 119 investors in just three days - on leading equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. 

Investors will share 18.53% equity in the start-up, which is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs who have worked at eBay and with some of the automotive sector’s major e-commerce players - including Mister Auto, The Parts Alliance, and Halfords -  as well as leading manufacturers such as BMW, Nissan and Toyota. With only 5% of the €26bn market for car and bike parts sales currently online, Glovebox will disrupt the status quo by moving more sales online.   

CEO and co-founder of Glovebox Joe Tarragano led eBay’s automotive sales division. He said: “We noticed how difficult it was for consumers to buy authentic car and bike parts online. Until now, no manufacturer makes their entire inventory available online. We are building an easy-to-use, trusted marketplace that unlocks parts and accessories ecommerce for every major car and bike manufacturer in the UK.”

In beta mode from November, Glovebox will use the investment to roll-out a full launch of the site and hire new staff for product development and marketing. The online marketplace is looking to confirm at least four more manufacturer partnerships in the coming months.   

Suzuki is the first official partner for Glovebox. It has more than 20,000 parts available for sale on the site as part of a live beta test with a further 150,000 being processed. As part of the partnership deal, Glovebox has also presented alongside Suzuki in their Suzuki Village at the Classic Bike Mechanic Show. 

Wayne Dye, General Manager at Suzuki said: “Glovebox are a great team who are forming the basis of a great opportunity to bring specialist products to consumers that they can’t buy online today.”

Graham Broughton, co-founder who managed the eBay and Amazon ecommerce activities for parts retailers such as Mister Auto and the Parts Alliance, said: “The sheer complexity of cataloguing millions of car parts has effectively acted as a barrier for the development of e-commerce in the auto space. 

We’ve spent 3000 hours of product development to create an easy to use platform that will make the cataloguing and management of car parts an easy extension of manufacturers’ own inventories. We also plan to offer click and collect and, uniquely, click and fit services in the future; something that really benefits dealers and also extends the benefit and value for manufacturers.”