CARS24 Eyeing IPO In 6-12 Months: CEO Vikram Chopra

Amid the ongoing startup IPO boom, used car marketplace CARS24’s cofounder and CEO Vikram Chopra said the startup is looking to go public in the next six to twelve months.

Without sharing details about the size of the public issue or the valuation that CARS24 would target, Chopra highlighted significant improvements in the startup’s financial health to support its bid to crack the $200 Bn used car market.

In a post on LinkedIn, Chopra said the startup’s adjusted net revenue in the first half (H1) of FY26 rose 18% YoY to INR 651 Cr. The improvement in the top line helped the startup trim its adjusted EBITDA loss by 36% YoY to INR 162 Cr.

“We expect this to accelerate further: H2 FY26 is on track for INR 750 Cr, up 35% YoY,” the cofounder added.

CARS24 saw nearly 85,000 cars worth over INR 3,700 Cr in transaction value being traded in H1. Its loan disbursements also grew about 38% YoY to INR 1,600 Cr.

The startup said it recorded over 1.1 Cr monthly active users on its platform during the period. It expects this momentum to continue in the second half of the year and facilitate 1.8 Lakh car deals in FY26.

On the international front, the startup claims to be the largest used car online transaction player across India, the UAE and Australia, with a GMV of INR 3,731 Cr in H1 FY26. It said that the UAE market became the first geography to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA of INR 9 Cr in H1 FY26.

For context, CARS24 was founded by Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Chopra in 2015 as a marketplace for automobiles for buying and selling pre-owned cars. It has raised over $1.3 Bn to date and entered the unicorn club with its $200 Mn Series E round in 2020.

CARS24 has also been on an acquisition spree to expand beyond the used car marketplace business and enter new verticals. In 2025, it forayed into the automobile-focussed content commerce market with the acquisition of Team BHP. Subsequently, it also acquired vehicle information platform CarInfo to enhance its post-sales relationship.

“From a Buy/Sell platform 18 months back, we have scaled into an end-to-end vehicle ownership platform with products like insurance, challan payments, CarTruth, Buyback and Chauferly. This led to INR 94 Cr GMV in H1 with transactions becoming 19X on our platform. With the CarInfo acquisition, we are doubling down on this high-gross-margin segment,” the CEO’s post read.

The SoftBank-backed startup’s IPO plans align with the broader IPO boom in the Indian startup ecosystem. After 18 startup IPOs in 2025, the momentum is well and strong this year with two new-age tech companies – Amagi and Shadowfax – filing their RHPs within weeks of entering this year.

CARS24 is looking to become the second automobile focussed ecommerce platform to go public after CarTrade, its larger competitor. CarTrade has also expanded into unchartered turf with acquisitions of online classified business OLX India (Auto), SaaS platform AutoBiz, auction platform Shriram Automall, among others.

It is also actively looking to reinforce its position in its core segment via acquisitions. Most recently, CarTrade was in talks with rival CarDekho, which also had plans for an IPO in 2024. However, the deal didn’t materialise over differences in valuation.