CarTrade Acquires OLX’s India Business For INR 535.54 Cr

In a major consolidation move in India’s used cars business, CarTrade has completed the acquisition of a 100% stake in Sobek Auto India Private Limited, consisting of the OLX classifieds platform and OLX Autos C2B transaction business, for INR 535.54 Cr.

The deal, announced a month ago, sees the culmination of a long-drawn process which saw Prosus, which owns a 99% stake in OLX, in talks with multiple parties to sell its India business.

Vinay Sanghi, chairman and founder of CarTrade Group, said, “With this synergistic acquisition of OLX Classifieds and OLX Auto in India, built with cutting-edge technology, we can offer our customers a diversified classifieds portfolio and simplify the way used vehicle buying and selling is done.”

Sanghi added that the transaction brings in around 68 Mn average monthly unique visitors and 32 Mn listings annually to CarTrade’s fold. With the acquisition, CarTrade’s employee count will cross 4,000, the company said.

CarTrade beat the likes of Spinny and Cars24 in a race to acquire OLX India.

According to CarTrade, OLX India sees more than 35,000 sales completed each year. On the other hand, the listed startup also claimed that OLX is India’s largest online classifieds platform that operates in broadly 12 categories.

OLX India reported a profit of INR 23 Cr pre-PDT (product and tech) costs, annualised as of July 2023. CarTrade added that OLX India’s auto business was debt free and held a cash reserve of INR 100 Cr. On the Classifieds front, OLX India reported a pre-PDT annualised profit of INR 111 Cr.

According to CarTrade, the tech and product costs would be incurred from September to December at $1.2 Mn per month, or $4.8 Mn actual cost. In consolidated figures, OLX India reported an annualised gross revenue of INR 1,837 Cr, against a net revenue of INR 285 Cr.

“In the next few months, all efforts would be made to bring down the losses in the C2B transaction business and improve the unit economics in the business,” said CarTrade.

The listed used cars marketplace added that OLX India’s auto dealer network will augment its existing capabilities in inspection, auction, customer support and value-added services to scale its business in the future.

CarTrade competes against the likes of Cars24, Spinny, CarDekho, and Droom in the crowded used car marketplace in India. In FY23, CarTrade reported a net profit of INR 40.43 Cr as against a loss of INR 121.35 Cr in FY22. The company’s market cap stood at INR 2,437.80 Cr on Monday.