IT service provider Fram Skandinavien has purchased the Vietnam arm of Carmudi, a car classifieds platform backed by e-commerce group Rocket Internet, for $50,000, Tech in Asia reported yesterday.
Carmudi is an online classifieds portal for the buying and selling of new and used cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles.
Aside from the Vietnam incarnation, launched in 2014, it is available in six Asia Pacific markets as well as Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Fram has acquired the rights to the Carmudi brand in Vietnam as well as its domain and e-commerce licence, which it will use to launch additional e-commerce businesses in the country. Fram now holds a 95% stake in the site with the other 5% held by a private investor.
Carmudi was founded in 2013 by Rocket Internet and raised $10m in series A funding the following year with contributions from Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of retailer Tengelmann and other, undisclosed investors.
The company obtained a $25m series B round in 2015 from Asia Pacific Internet Group, a joint venture between Rocket Internet and telecoms firm Ooredoo, as well as Tengelmann Ventures, VC firm Holtzbrinck Ventures and an unnamed private investor.
Christopher Beselin, chairman of Fram, said: “Our plans indicate that we should be able to operate the business at around a quarter of previous running costs without much, or any, negative impact on the revenues.
“Overall we like the industry as car retail is one of the fastest growing consumer categories in Vietnam – around 35% to 55% per annum over the last three years – and 2018 is set to be a golden auto year for Vietnam as the import tariffs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations goes from 30% to 0% as of January 1 2018.”