Seattle-based mobile car repair marketplace Wrench swooped another competitor on Tuesday, announcing the acquisition of Toronto-based Fiix. Both companies provide on-demand at-home car maintenance services.
Founded in 2015, Fiix graduated from Y Combinator in 2017 and had raised $1.9 million. The startup serviced more than 8,000 customers and inked deals with Uber and car2go.
Wrench launched one year after Fiix but has amassed a wider geographic footprint and raised more capital, including a $12 million Series B round last year from Tenaya Capital, Vulcan Capital, and Madrona Venture Group.
Wrench matches vetted mechanics with those needing their vehicle fixed, without requiring a trip to a dealership or shop. Repairs can be done anywhere from an office parking lot to a downtown parking garage to a customer’s driveway. Wrench facilitates the meeting and makes money off each transaction. It offers a one-year, 12,000-mile guarantee on parts and labor.
The company now operates its service in all 50 states and major cities including Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Portland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver.
“This acquisition not only unlocks incremental customer demand in cities we are currently in, but also strengthens the foundation of new customers in cities into which we are looking to expand,” Casey Willis, co-founder of Wrench, said in a statement.
Wrench said it plans to strengthen its SEO reach and possibly expand into Canada with the acquisition of Fiix, which had raised cash from Javelin Ventures, Y Combinator, and Upshift Capital. We’ve followed up with Wrench to get more details about the future of Fiix’s brand and any employee additions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a blog post, Fiix co-founder Zain Manji called the acquisition “exciting and bittersweet.”
“After months of meeting potential acquirers, we determined that Wrench would be the best fit for us and would be able to truly take Fiix’s mission and execution to another level,” Manji wrote. “We find the team at Wrench exceptional, and love their operational and product capabilities. Most importantly, their ability to execute and push boundaries within the industry is superb.”
In September 2018 Wrench acquired Otobots, a Chicago-based company that operates a similar marketplace.
Wrench CEO Ed Peterson co-founded Wrench with Willis and Doug Stevens. Peterson and some of his current colleagues founded and sold Intelius, a public record search company, and TalentWise, which does background checks and other screening services.
This past April, Wrench added Scott Nagel, Redfin president of real estate operations, to its board of directors.
