Cars24 is one of India’s biggest online marketplaces for used cars and other automobiles. The company is now planning to raise funds worth $350 million from DST Global, SoftBank Group Corp., and other investors.
It is expected that Falcon Edge Capital will also join this fundraising and will increase the valuation of the startup to close to $2 billion. It was earlier reported by Bloomberg News that the company plans to collect almost $200 million to $250 million. This round of funding is expected to close in the next couple of weeks but is not finalized.
Cars24 has hopes to plan an IPO soon and aims to go public in 2 years. India is recently witnessing a surge in the IPO market. Cartrade Tech Ltd., which is another marketplace similar to Cars24 is starting its trading on August 20th.
Used vehicles are in high demand now because people started to avoid public transports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cars24 was founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal, and Gajendra Jangid. Buying and selling used cars was such a hassle in India. With Cars24, the founders had planned to ease this process. The vehicles are priced based on AI algorithms and combine data to choose out the best vehicle for each customer. Before being listed on the platform, the vehicles will be refurbished by the company. They have a seven-day no-questions-asked return policy and gives a six-month warranty.
