India-based automotive e-commerce platform Cars24 has secured $450m in a series F round co-led by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 at a $1.84bn valuation, TechCrunch reported today.
Internet technology group Tencent and Exor Seeds, a vehicle formed by reinsurance provider PartnerRe and its parent firm Exor, joined Moore Strategic Ventures in the $340m equity portion of the round, which was co-led by investment firm DST Global and asset manager Falcon Edge. Unnamed financial institutions supplied $110m in debt financing.
The deal was first revealed last week as a $259m round valuing the company at $1.75bn, where Zennis Capital, DST Asia and Wave Incubation represented Tencent, DST Global and Falcon Edge respectively. It reportedly also included BloombergSen Investment Partners and Scott Kapnick.
Founded in 2015, Cars24 has built an artificial intelligence-equipped online marketplace that helps users buy and sell used cars at market prices. The company operates 205 branches across 182 cities in its home country, having also launched offices in Australia and United Arab Emirates.
Cars24 co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra told TechCrunch the company will use the cash to expand its presence in India and other markets, ramp up its data, appraisal process and sales-related technologies and build plans to help customers finance their purchases.
The company was valued at more than $1bn when it received $200m in a series E round led by DST Global in November 2020 and backed by e-commerce services group KCK Global, Exor Seeds, Moore Strategic Ventures and Unbound.
KCK Global and Unbound had led a $100m series D round for Cars24 in late 2019 also featuring Moore Strategic Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Partners Fund and DST Global.
Cars24 had previously secured almost $50m as of 2018, according to Entrackr, and its earlier backers include Kingsway Capital, Apoletto Asia, Venture Highway, 500 Startups, Asia Venture Group, Vendebita Trading, Regent Street Partners, Philipp Freise and Rahul Ravindra Raj Mehta.
Munish Varma, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, the SoftBank subsidiary that manages its Vision Funds, said: “Cars24 is building a data-enabled tech platform that is organising the fragmented used car market in India. We have been closely tracking its approach and efforts that have disrupted the used car retailing in India.”
