Carnovo: Launching a Scalable Web Platform in Just Three Months
Carnovo was launched by Antai Venture Builder, the group behind companies such as Wallapop, Glovo and CornerJob. It positioned itself as the first online comparator for new car offers from official dealers in Spain, aiming to transform the traditional car-buying process. Their mission was clear: make buying a car faster, more transparent and more convenient, saving users time and money while giving dealers better tools to manage leads.
Market research revealed strong demand for a simple online car-configuration experience, but new competitors were already emerging in Europe and the US. Carnovo needed to launch fast — in just three months — with a product robust enough to scale from day one.
Carnovo needed to launch a complete platform in an extremely short three-month window, aligned with the high-season for car sales. The challenge was to build a robust, scalable system that allowed users to quickly configure their car and receive proposals within 48 hours, while also creating a reliable back office for dealers.
Following a lean approach, the team had to integrate more than five external software providers — car configuration databases, analytics, help desk, communication tools and email marketing — without compromising performance. Additionally, the platform needed an intelligent broadcast algorithm to ensure that each user request was matched with the right dealers based on distance, configuration, reviews and price.
Launching a scalable web platform in just three months
We joined the Carnovo project with a clear mission: design and develop, in less than three months, a robust web platform that would allow users to easily configure their car and begin receiving dealer proposals within 48 hours. The starting point was strong market research and a validated need, but no existing platform or technical base.
We began by defining the system architecture to ensure scalability from day one. The work was divided into two key fronts: the customer-facing platform and an internal back office for both the Carnovo team and car dealers. While the frontend team focused on building a smooth, intuitive configuration experience, the backend team designed the workflows for requests, offers and communication between users and dealers.
Following a lean startup approach, we relied on third-party services whenever possible: car configuration databases, analytics, help desk, communication tools and email marketing platforms. In just three months, we integrated more than five external providers, allowing us to concentrate our efforts on Carnovo’s core features and on developing the broadcast algorithm that would match each user request with the right dealers.
In parallel, we built a powerful back office for dealers to manage incoming requests, send proposals and track user activity. To support the anticipated growth, we set up a continuous integration system with staging, pre-production and production environments, and automated deployments using Docker—ensuring fast and safe delivery cycles right in time for the high-season launch.
Technologies Used
Technologies used: Symfony (PHP), React JS and Docker.
Results
- The MVP was delivered on time, right before the high season for car sales.
- A fully scalable platform architecture ready to support rapid user growth.
- A complete back office enabling dealers to easily manage requests and send offers.
- Integration of more than five third-party services in under three months.
- The platform helped Carnovo raise €2M in under six months, positioning it as one of the most promising automotive startups in Spain.
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