CarDekho Enters Unicorn Club With $250 Mn Pre-IPO Round

Delhi NCR-based automobile marketplace CarDekho’s parent CarDekho Group (also known as GirnarSoft) has raised $200 Mn in an equity Series E round and $50 Mn in debt led by Leapfrog Investments alongside Canyon Partners, Mirae Asset, Harbor Spring Capital and existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Sunley House.

The round values the used 4W marketplace at $1.2 Bn, up from $725 Mn in December 2019. Backed by the likes of Sequoia, HDFC Bank, Hillhouse Group and Ping An Global Voyager, CarDekho has so far raised $440 Mn in equity funding.

With this round, CarDekho has become the 32nd Indian startup to enter the unicorn club in 2021 and 75+ overall. According to Inc42 analysis, India will have 100 unicorns by 2023 or by the end of CY 2022.

Founded in 2007 by Amit Jain & Anurag Jain, the search and ecommerce platform for new and used cars will use the funds to expand its car transactions and financial services businesses, with a major focus on increasing its catalogue to 10K+ used cars.

The newly minted unicorn claims to have exceeded the $100 Mn revenue run-rate last month.

It also plans to expand across India with retail hubs to focus on both used car buying and certified pre-owned car retail transactions with customers. CarDekho currently claims that its auto as well non-auto products are present in 30 countries, including India, Indonesia (under the name OTO) and the Philippines (through the acquisition of Carmudi).

Apart from CarDekho, GirnarSoft also operates various auto platforms such as Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com, BikeDekho.com, PowerDrift.com and more.

In March this year, CarDekho had launched UPLINK. It is an advanced and compact GPS Vehicle Tracking System powered by a compact plug-and-play device that can be connected to any vehicle. It allows users to gain real-time access to a host of information such as live tracking, rash driving alerts, trips history, usage stats, and more.

Further, it claims that the digital platform – ‘New Auto’, and its financial services businesses are already profitable. Its insurance business, InsuranceDekho claims to have crossed the breakeven point.

In the used 4W segment, CarDekho competes with Mumbai-based IPO-bound Droom who joined the unicorn club in July 2021 at a $1.2 Bn valuation and IPO-bound Cars24 who’s valuation catapulted to $1.8 Bn after it raised $450 Mn in September. CarDekho also competes against the likes of soonicorn Spinny, OLX, Quikr, OlaCars among others.

The IPO announcement from CarDekho, reportedly for early-2023 comes shortly after, CarTrade, another competitor got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in August 2021.