CarDekho Looks To Raise $100 Mn In Series D Funding Led By Autohome Inc

Jaipur-based automobile subsidiary of Girnar group, CarDekho, is raising a $100 Mn Series D funding round.

A Livemint report citing sources said that CarDekho is in talks with Chinese strategic investor Autohome Inc., who will lead the round with $70 Mn. Existing investor Sequoia is also looking to invest and is leading the discussions being a common investor.

Girnar-owned CarDekho is operational since 2007 and has built a complete ecosystem to enable its consumers to have easy and complete access to buying and selling cars, as well as information on cars.

CarDekho’s service lets buyers and sellers engage with each other for automobile sales. It also wants to manage and improve the entire ownership experience, by facilitating the purchase of accessories, tyres, batteries, and insurance, and providing roadside assistance.

So far, CarDekho, owned by Girnar Software, has raised $202 Mn, including the latest funding round of $110 Mn. Prior to this round, the company raised $75 Mn from investors such as Hillhouse Capital, Tybourne Capital, Times Internet, and Sequoia Capital, among others.

Here’s what is new at CarDekho:

• In April, CarDekho announced that it will buy back shares worth $2.5 Mn (INR 17.5 Cr) from its employees, under the Girnar group ESOP repurchase plan, 2019. The company has circulated the offer letter to 71 eligible employees for participating in the repurchase plan.
• CarDekho has witnessed a 62% growth in its revenue to reach INR 260 Cr mark in the financial year ending on March 2019. It attributed this growth to the company’s performance in the used car segment.
• The company has claimed a $21 Mn (approx INR 145 Cr.) exit run rate in FY19
• It reported an 8% drop in its pre-marketing burn amounting to $0.2 Mn (approx INR 138 Cr.) for the year

CarDekho is now looking to leverage and play an important role in the Indian electric vehicle (EV) segment, set to boom by 2021-22. Other major online used car marketplaces in India are Cars24, Droom, Quikr, Olx, Mahindra First Choice Wheels, among others. According to an IBEF report, the Indian auto industry, one of the largest in the world, accounts for 7.1% of the country’s GDP.

The report has pegged the Indian automobile market at $125 Bn. Out of this, $100 Bn is the estimated share of automobile sales and the remaining $25 Bn includes services. It is expected to grow at a rate of about 10% to a whopping $225 Bn by 2020.

However, recently, the sector has been facing major slowdown and has been seeking incentives from the government to stay on track for growth.