[Funding alert] CarDekho raises $70M in Series D round led by Ping An Global Voyager Fund

Jaipur-headquartered automobile classifieds platform CarDekho on Thursday said it has raised $70 million in Series D round led by Ping An’s Global Voyager Fund.

Sunley House Capital Management, a subsidiary of global private equity firm Advent International, also participated in the round along with existing investors Sequoia India and Hillhouse. Additionally, CarDekho marks Global Voyager Fund’s first investment in India.

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According to CarDekho, the funds will be used to further strengthen its transaction businesses and expand its international footprint. With this latest round, CarDekho has raised more than $250 million in funding till date. 

In the last week of November this year, CarDekho started its operations in the second country in Southeast Asia by acquiring the Philippines operations of Carmudi. It launched its Indonesia operations in 2016 under the brand name OTO.com.

Speaking on the fundraise, Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, CarDekho, said, 

“As a leading full-stack autotech company in India, we at CarDekho are committed to helping consumers throughout their car buying and selling journey. Our unique automobile ecosystem helps us provide compelling value propositions to the consumers and engage with them through our various transaction models at one platform. With the latest fundraise, we will continue to strengthen our domestic and international businesses and will aggressively work towards becoming the largest personal mobility ecosystem in the country.”

This fund raise comes less than a year after the company announced raising $110 million in Series C round from Sequoia India, Hillhouse, CapitalG (Alphabet growth investment arm), and Axis Bank.

At present, CarDekho claims to actively work with over 4,000 new auto dealerships and 3,000 used car dealers across India.

“Auto services are a core component of Ping An’s ‘finance + ecosystem’ strategy, reflected in our majority shareholding in Autohome in China. We have been extremely impressed with the business CarDekho has built in India, particularly its success in developing different types of financial services offerings to address car buyers’ needs,” said Donald Lacey, Managing Director and COO of the Ping An Global Voyager Fund. 

The Group also works in collaboration with more than 10 financial institutions and 18 insurance companies across the country to facilitate used car financing and insurance to provide a seamless experience for both buyers and sellers.

Mohammed Anjarwala, Managing Director at Sunley House Capital Management, said, 

“With a significant share of the auto industry’s digital ad spending, we believe the company is poised for strong growth as advertising in India increasingly moves to digital channels. We look forward to supporting CarDekho by providing access to our global network and experience in building high-growth businesses.” 

CarDekho recently announced its H1 results for FY 19-20, and claimed that the overall revenue of the company achieved a year-on-year growth of 92 percent over the first half of the last fiscal year, and stood at $28 million.

“CarDekho continues to execute very well on its ecosystem strategy across the used and new auto space. Sequoia India is glad to welcome Ping An and Sunley House to this partnership, and we are excited to deepen our support and commitment to the CarDekho team in its journey to make car buying and selling a more convenient and efficient experience for Indian consumers,” said Shailesh Lakhani, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors. 

Despite the slowdown in new auto sales across the country, CarDekho claims that its new auto business segment posted a significant growth of 30 percent. However, the company didn’t reveal actual numbers of the growth.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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