Car search platform CarDekho has announced a $250 million round of funding that included $200 million Series E equity and $50 million debt in its pre-IPO round. With the latest fundraising, CarDekho joins the unicorn club with a valuation of $1.2 billion and becomes the first unicorn based in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
It is the largest ever fundraise by CarDekho and the company said that the proceeds will be used to accelerate CarDekho’s growth in the used car transactions, financial services, and insurance businesses, build robust product and technology functions, increase brand awareness, and expand into new markets.
According to the company, it currently buys cars from customers in more than 100 markets and has a catalogue of 3,000+ certified pre-owned cars for online purchase. The company will be expanding its used car retail transactions business geographically and is set to increase its catalogue to 10,000 cars in the near future.
The company plans to expand across India with retail hubs that will focus on both used car buying and certified pre-owned car retail transactions with customers. The CarDekho team is currently present in India, Indonesia and the Philippines and aims to use the funds to expand internationally. As per the company, its auto and non-auto products are currently used in more than 30 countries globally.
The funding round was led by LeapFrog Investments, a global impact investor focused on financial services and healthcare access. Other new investors who participated included US-based Canyon Partners, Mirae Asset and Harbor Spring Capital. CarDekho’s existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Sunley House invested further. Sequoia Capital India was one of the early investors in CarDekho having led the Series A round in 2013 and Series C round in 2018.
Amit Jain, Co-founder and CEO CarDekho said, “We are committed to empowering our customers and providing them with a convenient and hassle-free experience. The new fundraise will help us expand our Used Car transactions and Financial services businesses. The trust and conviction of our investors will help us to accelerate our growth plans whilst we provide our customers with an experience that will continue to re-define car buying and selling.”