India-based online automotive e-commerce platform CarDekho has secured $75m in funding from investors including digital marketing firm Dentsu and media group Bennett, Coleman & Co (BCC), Entrackr has reported.
Financial services firm HDFC Bank, Hillhouse Capital, Tybourne Capital and private investor Ratan Tata also participated, according to three unnamed sources, who said the round could eventually close at $150m to $170m. BCC participated through its Times Internet subsidiary.
CarDekho runs an online marketplace for used vehicles that also includes detailed specifications on each model as well as video and photographic content.
A report in September 2017 suggested the company was in talks with internet group Tencent over a $30m to $40m round, but no such round was ever confirmed. However, Entrackr reported in February this year that venture capital firm Sequoia Capital had invested $2.5m.
The Sequoia funding was added on to the $15m CarDekho raised in a 2016 round led by CapitalG, internet technology group Alphabet’s growth equity arm, which invested together with existing backers including Hillhouse Capital.
Sequoia had originally provided $15m of series A funding for CarDekho in 2013, before the company added $50m in a 2015 series B round featuring Hillhouse, Sequoia, Tybourne Capital and Ratan Tata. It raised an undisclosed sum from HDFC later in the year.
