India’s used car e-commerce companies get together, can CARS24 highlight the encirclement?
Foreign media news, India used car trading platform “CARS24” recently completed $100 million in Series D financing. The main investors in this round of financing are Unbound, an investment company focusing on technology, and KCK Global, a Canadian venture capital firm. The two companies each invested US$25 million, including Sequoia Capital and DST Global.
In July 2018, the company received $50 million in financing from Sequoia Capital India, Kingsway FCI Fund and KCK Global Limited, with a valuation of $250 million.
“CARS24” was established in 2015 as a used car trading platform with co-founders Mehul Agrawal and Vikram Chopra. Different from the competitors, “CARS24” allows car owners to get the car immediately when they sell the car. “CARS24” then resells the used car to the company that operates the used car through its auction platform.
CARS24 Website
The current “CARS24” business has covered 50 cities in India and will increase to 75 cities by the end of the year. The company is expanding its franchise model and plans to expand to more than 300 cities by 2021 to complete the sinking market.
According to Indian media reports, due to the speed of the replacement of models, the price of used cars of the same model is declining, consumers buy twoThe willingness of the handcart is strengthened. In 2018, the sales of the used car market in India increased by 40% to 50% compared with 2017. It is estimated that the Indian used car market is between $25 billion and $30 billion, with approximately 5 million transactions per year.
“CARS24” competitors in India include other large online used car platforms Olx, CarTrade, Droom, CarDekho, Spinny, etc. Droom, which specializes in C2C mode, has completed the D and E rounds of financing in 2018. It is expected to sprint IPO in 2020 (India online car trading platform “Droom” Completed the E round of financing, the accumulated financing amounted to 125 million US dollars). The investment institution Sequoia Capital India has also participated in the Carroll C round of financing.
In recent years, Indian startups have sprung up, and there are not many companies that “Copy China to India”. The auto market is favored by low-cost labor and consumer-oriented capital. Many VC institutions, including China, are optimistic about the potential of mobile Internet in India to enter the market, but the influx of capital has also caused the Indian market to bubble up. Chinese VC may still need to think coldly.
Extended reading
Nine-in-the-Sea Observations: Analysis of Indian E-Commerce Investment Opportunities