The value of India’s Cars24 doubles after raising $450 million in the latest funding round
Cars24, an Indian site and mobile app that sells used cars, has raised $450 million from investors, including SoftBank Group.
New funding values the used-car site at $1.84 billion, almost double its value at the end of last year. In addition to SoftBank, other equity investors in the round of funding included DST Global, Falcon Edge Capital, and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd along with existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Exor Seeds. Additionally, the startup raised $110 million in debt financing from several financial institutions.
CEO Vikram Chopra, along with co-founders Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal, and Gajendra Jangid, said the company plans to use the funds across various areas.
Through this latest investment, Cars24 will expand its global presence and drive growth for the company’s cars, bikes, and finance business in India, as well as investing in technology to deliver the best customer experience.
With its presence in more than 200 cities in India, Cars24 has sold 400,000 cars and motorbikes to date.
“Just last month, we celebrated our six successful years of operations and we are incredibly excited to share that CARS24 has officially closed its largest round of funding to date. Traditionally, car selling or buying have been a tiresome process, and only 2 of 100 people own cars in India. However, over the last six years, we have been working continuously towards fulfilling the dreams of many Indians to own a car by transforming the customer’s journey- ‘the CARS24 way’ that is hassle-free, safe and transparent. With this investment, we will continue to penetrate into existing car, bikes and financing business in India while venturing into new overseas geographies this year,” Chopra said.
About Cars24
Founded in 2015, Cars24 is a platform for buying and selling used cars. Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid, and Ruchit Agarwal are the co-founders. The company expanded its international operations in several countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Australia, in 2021.
In addition to being online, Cars24 offers an offline presence. Besides selling used cars, the company also enables end-to-end transactions, transfers ownership of the car to the new owner, and offers an online auction platform for businesses selling their pre-owned cars. In 2019, the company began offering verified used cars, and provided a buyback guarantee on the vehicles that were inspected.
In India, the company operates 202 offices across 73 cities as of 2019. Apart from its own branches, the company has tie-ups with more than 10,000 channel partners across 230 cities in India.
The company launched Cars24 Moto in May 2020. It allows customers to sell used motorbikes, mopeds, and scooters on its platform. In addition, it launched a service offering vehicle inspection services at the customer’s location instead of their branch.
