[UPDATE: $70 Mn Funding] CarDekho Parent GirnarSoft Raises Series D Round

Update: December 6, 2019

After the story was published, CarDekho announced that it has raised $70 Mn in Series D funding, led by Ping An’s Global Voyager Fund with participation from Sunley House Capital Management and existing investors Sequoia India and Hillhouse. These funds will be used to further strengthen CarDekho’s transaction businesses and expand its international footprint.

Jaipur-based auto-tech company GirnarSoft, the parent company of CarDekho, BikeDekho etc, has raised $40.05 Mn in its Series D funding round.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, after a shareholder resolution passed on November 25, the company on November 26 and 27 raised funds from Ping An Global Voyager Fund and Lenarco Limited.

The filings showed that on November 26, Girnar Software allotted 24024 Series D shares at a nominal value of INR 10 and premium of INR 74,316 to Ping An Global Voyager Fund worth INR 178.56 Cr. On November 27, Girnar Software allotted 12224 Series D shares at a nominal value of INR 10 and premium of INR 88340 to Lenarco Limited worth INR 107.99 Cr. Lenarco is a Cyprus-based special purpose vehicle floated by AI Global Investments.

The company said in a press statement that the funds will be used to further strengthen CarDekho’s transaction businesses and expand its international footprint. It recently started operations in the Philippines with the acquisition of Carmudi. CarDekho launched its Indonesia operations in 2016 under the brand name OTO.com.

The development comes after reports surfaced in October 2019 that CarDekho is raising a $100 Mn Series D funding round. It was reported that CarDekho was in talks with Chinese strategic investor Autohome Inc., who was expected to lead the round with $70 Mn. Existing investor Sequoia is also looking to invest and is leading the discussions being a common investor.

Founded in 2007, CarDekho has built a complete auto ecosystem to give its consumers an easy and complete access to buying and selling cars.  The company also provides all sorts of information on cars. The Girnar Software group currently operates in various leading Indian auto sites such as CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com, BikeDekho.com, InsuranceDekho.com, PowerDrift.com and more.

So far, CarDekho, owned by Girnar Software, 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.

In H1 2020, the company said its new auto business segment posted a significant growth of 30% in the first half of the fiscal year 2020.

The company attributed this growth to pre-emptive moves to build relationships with the new car and bike OEMs, as well as, building consumer behaviour-based content solutions. CarDekho also said that it recorded the revenue of $28 Mn in H1 2019, a 92% Y-o-Y growth.

CarDekho is now looking forward to playing an important role in the Indian electric vehicle (EV) segment, which is set to boom by 2021-22. CarDekho’s major competitors include Droom, OLX, Cars24 etc.

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