Used car marketplace CARS24 enters unicorn club, raises $200 million in Series E round

Cars24, Indian marketplace for second-hand vehicles, has raised $200 million in a Series E round led by DST Global and existing investors including Exor Seeds, Moore Strategic Ventures and Unbound. With the fresh round of funding, the pre-owned car company's valuation crosses $1 billion, making it the latest unicorn in the country.

The fresh financing will be used to invest aggressively in technology and product innovation and scale new business verticals, the tech-enabled used car company said in a press release.

With annual transactions exceeding 2,00,000 units and 4X increase in website engagement, the company has already surpassed pre-COVID levels, it said.

Commenting on the development, Vikram Chopra, Co-founder and CEO of Cars24, said, "Traditionally, car selling or buying has been a tiresome process, however, over the last five years, we have strived to transform the customer's journey- 'the CARS24 way' that is hassle-free, safe and transparent. With this investment, we will continue to innovate our product and bolster our capabilities to provide the best experience for all parties - with sellers getting the best value for their car, and buyers getting to choose from a wide assortment of automobiles."  

"CARS24 has pioneered a significantly differentiated experience for the customer and dealer by deeply leveraging data and technology at each step, resulting in world-class operational efficiency and market leadership in the segment. We are very excited to partner with Vikram, Mehul, Ruchit, Gajendra and the entire management team and look forward to working together as they continue to deliver tremendous value to the entire ecosystem through first principles thinking." said Rahul Mehta, managing partner at DST Global.

Founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Gajendra Jangid, CARS24 is one of the leading online transaction platform for pre-owned vehicles in India. It is backed by marquee investors like Sequoia India, Exor Seeds (venture arm of Exor, one of the world's leading holding companies controlled by the Agnelli Family), DST Global, Kingsway Capital (London based investment firm), Unbound (global investment firm headquartered in London), Moore Strategic Ventures and KCK (Silicon Valley & New York based investment firm).

Last year in October, CARS24 had raised $100 million in their Series D round of funding from its existing investors - KCK, Agnelli (Fiat) Family, Sequoia India, Unbound, and Moore Strategic Ventures.

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