CarDekho Group Ropes In Former Google Executive Sudarshan Sharma As CBO For New Auto Biz

CarDekho Group has onboarded automotive and technology veteran Sudarshan Sharma as chief business officer (CBO) for its New Auto business.

In his new role, Sharma will help the startup to fuel its marketing expansion, revenue growth and also foster strategic tie-ups in the industry, CarDekho Group said in a statement.

Prior to joining CarDekho Group, he served as senior director at Flipkart, where he played a key role in leading third party monetisation and agency relationships. He also served in Google as the head of industry in the automotive sector.

“With a distinguished career spanning two decades in the automotive and technology sectors, Sharma is the perfect fit to spearhead strategic business development and drive innovative growth initiatives,” said Mayank Jain, chief executive at New Auto.

This comes days after CarDekho Group partnered with SaaS platform BiUP Technologies through its investment arm Girnar Vision Fund (GVF) to drive AI-powered mobility solutions as a part of their strategic partnership.

Founded in 2008 by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, CarDekho Group operates various platforms in the autotech and finance sectors, including CarDekho.com, InsuranceDekho, Rupyy. CarDekho operates as an app based car listing platform.

CarDekho Group counts Peak XV Hillhouse Capital, CapitalG, Ratan Tata Trust, Leapfrog, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, among its marquee backers.

At the heart of the development, CarDekho has made some partnerships and expansions in the past few months.

For instance in May, CarDekho expanded into the agricultural sector with TractorsDekho, a platform designed to simplify tractor research for India’s farming communities. The platform aims to connect buyers, sellers, dealers, and service centres.

Prior to that, in March, CarDekho’s fintech arm Rupyy entered the personal lending space. Initially focusing on small ticket loans up to INR 40,000, Rupyy plans to scale up to INR 2 Lakh and above in the future. This move aims to grow its user base to 40-50 Mn

In FY23, Cardekho Group’s consolidated revenue grew by 1.5X to INR 2,331 Cr, even though net loss rose marginally to INR 562 Cr from INR 535 Cr in FY22.