Cars24, an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars, is in the process of raising up to $80 million in a fresh equity round of financing as it eyes pan-India expansion.
While existing backers including venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Cayman Islands-based Kingsway FCI Fund and Toronto-based KCK Global are likely to put in $45-50 million in the Gurugram-based startup, new investors may pour in balance $25-30 million, The Economic Times reported.
Cars24 had reportedly raised about $11 million from its Singapore parent Global Car Group in March this year. A year ago, it had raised about $50 million from Sequoia Capital India, Kingsway FCI Fund, and KCK Global.
According to Crunchbase, the company has raised a total of $61 million in funding to date. It also counts Exor Seeds, a fund associated with Europe’s EXOR N.V, and Apoletto Asia, an investment vehicle associated with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global, among its backers.
Founded by former FabFurnish founders Mehul Agrawal and Vikram Chopra in 2015, Cars24 follows an asset-heavy customer-to-business (C2B) model, where it buys used cars from individuals and dealers and sells them to other dealerships. The startup currently boasts of 151 branches across 32 major cities in India.
It competitors include CarDekho, Droom, Quikr Auto, Olx and CarTrade.
Earlier this year, CarDekho had also raised $110 million in a Series C funding round from Sequoia India, Hillhouse, CapitalG (formerly known as Google Capital), and Axis Bank. The portal last raised about $15 million from Google Capital and Hillhouse Capital in March 2016. CarDekho is owned by Girnarsoft, which also owns other portals such as Zigwheels, Gaadi.com, Pricedekho.com and Bikedekho.com.
Another player in the space, CarTrade, last secured $55 million in its Series G round of funding led by Singapore-based investor Temasek in February 2017. It was recently in the news for acquiring a majority stake in Shriram Automall India Ltd (SAMIL) for nearly $24.5 million.