Carro raises US$60mil in Series B funding

By Digital News Asia May 15, 2018

Will double down on online marketplace, financing in emerging markets
To date, automotive marketplace has raised over US$75 mil in funding

Carro raises US$60mil in Series B funding

CARRO, a Southeast Asian online full stack automotive marketplace, announced the close of US$60 million (RM238.14 million) in Series B funding.

The deal was co-led by Softbank Ventures Korea, Insignia Ventures Partners and B Capital Group, with participation from the family office of Manik Arora (Founder of IDG Ventures India). Existing investors Venturra, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures and Alpha JWC also participated in this round of fundraising.

Based in Singapore, Carro was founded in 2015 by a group of Carnegie Mellon University alumni.

By helping car owners sell and buy quickly at a fair price, Carro is on a mission to become the platform of choice for the entire automotive ownership life cycle. To date, Carro has raised over US$75 million (RM297.68 million) in funding.

Sean Lee, partner at Softbank Ventures Korea; Eduardo Saverin, co-founder and partner at B Capital Group; as well as Tan Yinglan, founding managing partner at Insignia Ventures Partners and ex-venture partner at Sequoia Capital, will join the board.

“We greatly appreciate the continued support from a growing investor base,” said Aaron Tan, CEO at Carro.

“The expertise they bring to the table will allow us to continue scaling up our online marketplace as well as Genie Financial Services, Carro’s own financial services company, which is already profitable. With credit approvals in just a few minutes, the purchase of any car can be done in 30 minutes or less.”

“We will double down on our online marketplaces and financing in emerging markets this year. Ultimately, we want to improve the experience of selling and buying a car, as well as provide access to capital to the next billion people, which will improve the quality of lives.”

Tan Yinglan notes that Carro is not just going after a small part of the automotive industry. “What Aaron and the team are doing is truly transformative. We are excited to partner with Carro as we believe in its full stack automotive ecosystem approach, which offers products and services that are complementary to each other, leveraging network effect and economies of scale.”

In 2017, more than US$250 million (RM992.26 million) worth of vehicle were transacted across Carro’s platforms in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

In the same year, Carro’s Genie Financial Services originated over US$100 million (RM396.9 million) in loans, while a loan book of close to US$40 million (RM158.76 million) was amassed in Carro’s first year of operation.

The first generation of e-commerce was direct to consumer sales of electronics. As consumers increase their trust in online commerce, their willingness to purchase larger ticket items, such as automobiles, is on the rise.

Saverin, adds that the automotive industry lacks trust. “With Carro’s proprietary dealer operating system (OS), we believe that their unique know-how of the various C2C, C2B and B2B market models will place Carro in a very good position.”

Within 2.5 years, Carro has commanded a large share of the wholesale auction market, expanding into auto financing, insurance brokerage, road side assistance and more.

More recently, Carro Express, a new service committed to completing each used vehicle transaction within 60 minutes, has also struck a chord with consumers and dealers.

Carro Express was launched in over 30 locations across Southeast Asia in the past nine months.

Commenting on Carro’s all-inclusive suite, Lee, said “Carro’s platform has adapted to a rapidly evolving automotive market. The team has been able to discern what the needs of the modern user are and are working on solutions for the next generation auto ownership experience.”

With 30% of Carro’s employees made up of engineers and the three co-founders coming from tech backgrounds, the result is a comprehensive platform offering products that serves the needs of both consumers and dealers alike.