May 14, 2018
Singapore’s online automotive marketplace Carro on Monday announced that it has secured a series B funding of $60 million in a round led by Softbank Ventures Korea, Insignia Ventures Partners and B Capital Group.
The deal was also participated by the family office of Manik Arora (Founder of IDG Ventures India), while existing investors Venturra, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures and Alpha JWC also joined the round, the startup said in a statement.
The investment will see Sean Lee, Partner at Softbank Ventures Korea; Eduardo Saverin, Co-Founder and Partner at B Capital Group; as well as Tan Yinglan, Founding Managing Partner at Insignia Ventures Partners and ex-Venture Partner at Sequoia Capital, join Carro’s board.
Commenting on the deal, Carro CEO Aaro Tan said: “The expertise they (investors) bring to the table will allow us to continue scaling up our online marketplace as well as Genie Financial Services, Carro’s own financial services company, which is already profitable.”
He added that the company plans to double down on its online marketplaces and financing in emerging markets this year and provide access to capital to the next billion people.
Founded in 2015, Carro describes itself as a full stack automotive marketplace. The company’s mission is to “rethink the future of the car ownership experience for dealers and consumers”, by making buying and selling cars more efficient through proprietary pricing algorithms.
In 2017, more than $250 million worth of vehicles were transacted across Carro’s platforms in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. In the same year, Carro’s Genie Financial Services originated over $100 million in loans, while a loan book of close to$40 million was amassed in Carro’s first year of operation.
Within 2.5 years, Carro has expanded into auto financing, insurance brokerage, road side assistance and more. More recently, the company introduced Carro Express, a new service launched in 30 locations across Southeast Asia, committed to completing each used vehicle transaction within 60 minutes.
Carro’s previous funding came in March of last year when it raised $12 million investment led by an undisclosed investor.
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