Droom, the India-based automotive marketplace backed by corporates Beenos, Toyota and Digital Garage, has reached a first close of undisclosed size for a $200m funding round, the Economic Times reported yesterday.
Seven Train Ventures and 57 Stars were among the participants in the tranche, which valued Droom at $1.2bn.
The company intends to complete the round before the end of September 2021, and is considering an initial public offering on Nasdaq in the United States or an India-based stock exchange next year.
Founded in 2014, Droom has built an artificial intelligence and big data-equipped e-commerce platform that enables private and enterprise users to list or purchase used vehicles. It also runs related offerings including car pricing portal Orange Book Value, vehicle inspection network Eco and Credit, an auto loan and dealership financing service.
The cash will be used to expand Droom’s market reach both in its home country and internationally, and enhance its last-mile operations. It raised $30m in an October 2018 series E round led by the family office of Joe Hirao and backed by undisclosed others to take its overall funding to $125m.
Automotive manufacturer Toyota’s trading subsidiary, Toyota Tsusho, had co-led a $30m series D round with internet company Digital Garage five months earlier at a $550m valuation. E-commerce group Beenos also took part, alongside Ellison Investments, Lightbox, Beenext and two unnamed Hong Kong-based family offices.
Integrated Asset Management led a $20m series C round for the company in 2017 that also featured Digital Garage, Beenos, Lightbox and Beenext.
Lightbox had backed Droom’s $30m series B round together with Beenext the previous year, after joining Beenos to co-lead a $15.6m series A round in 2015.
