Cars24 raises $450 mn in new SoftBank-led round; nearly doubles valuation to $1.84 bn

Used vehicles marketplace Cars24 has closed a $450 million round of funding to further expand its global presence months after the company's expansion into UAE and Australian markets recently.

Cars24 said in a statement that it will invest the fresh capital on expanding its global presence as well as further building cars, bikes and financing business in India.

The Gurugram-based company claimed it has already sold over 1,000 cars in the UAE since its launch in April and the official announcement of its foray into the Australian market last week.

Also Read: Cars24 to raise $250 million from DST, other investors; valuation nears $2 billion

"Just last month, we celebrated our six successful years of operations, and we are incredibly excited to share that CARS24 has officially closed its largest round of funding to date. With this investment, we will continue to penetrate into existing car, bikes and financing business in India while venturing into new overseas geographies this year," said Vikram Chopra, co-founder and CEO, CARS24.

The company's valuation jumped to $1.84 billion with the latest round led by international investors such as DST Global, Falcon Edge and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. 

The $450 million round includes $340 million of Series F equity component and $110 million debt raised from undisclosed financial institutions.

Tencent and existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Exor Seeds participated in the equity portion along with other leading investors.

Cars24 was valued at $1 billion during its $200 million Series E round in November last year.

Also Read: Cars24 to raise $350 mn from DST Global, SoftBank Group, others at $2 billion valuation

Its other backers include Sequoia India; London-based investment firms Kingsway Capital and Unbound, and Silicon Valley & New York-based family investment fund KCK.

"We believe CARS24 is enhancing the customer experience in the used car industry with its sharp focus on technology. We will continue to support this growth given our expertise in e-commerce businesses across markets," said Sumer Juneja, partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers.

Founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Gajendra Jangid, Cars24 enables customers to buy and sell pre-owned vehicles (cars and bikes) as well as facilitates financing options for the transactions. It has secured a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license and offers consumer lending with

CARS24 Financial Services. It operates in over 130 cities in India.

Having facilitated over 4 lakh transactions till date, the Gurugram-based company claims to enjoy over 90% of the market share in the used car segment in the country.