Gurugram-based automobile marketplace CarDekho has raised ₹770 crores ($110 million) in a series C funding round from existing investors Hillhouse Capital, CapitalG, Axis Bank and Sequoia Capital India. Other investors that participated in the round include Tybourne, Times Internet, Ratan Tata, Dentsu, HDFC Bank, Aquila Capital and RNT Associates. The RainMaker Group advised the startup during the transaction.
“Since Sequoia India’s initial investment, Cardekho has been executing well, and has many existing business lines contributing to their growth,” said Shailesh Lakhani, managing director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.
The startup plans to use the freshly raised capital to strengthen its insurance, finance and used car services. Founded by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain in 2005, CarDekho is an online platform for researching and comparing car specifications and prices. The platform also helps users with financing and insurance as well as selling of used cars. CarDekho aims to construct a complete ecosystem to enable its consumers to have easy and complete access to buying and selling cars.
David Rhee, the partner at Hillhouse Capital, said, “We look forward to continuing to work with CarDekho’s management team as they leverage their deep knowledge of the sector to better serve India’s growing automotive market.”
The startup has raised around ₹1,414 crores ($202 million) in total funding including the latest funding round. Earlier in March last year, the firm closed a ₹17.5 crores ($2.5 million) deal from Sequoia Capital India. Prior to that, the firm raised around ₹350 crores ($50 million) in January 2015 from investors Tybourne, Sequoia India, Hillhouse Capital and RNT Associates. In November 2013, CarDekho raised ₹105 crores ($15 million) in series A round from Sequoia Capital India.
“We have been impressed with Amit and the CarDekho team’s ability to maintain market leadership in the auto space and run a capital efficient business,” said Kaushik Anand, head of India investments at CapitalG.
CarDekho has more than 5,000 dealers across India and witnesses the sale of more than 12,000 cars and 25,000 two-wheelers every month. It claims to receive more than 73 million monthly traffic with 39 million monthly unique visitors. The mobile app of the startup has been downloaded by more than 5 million customers. Last year in 2018, the startup recorded a 40 per cent rise in its revenue reaching ₹160 crores ($21.6 million) as compared to ₹116 crores ($15.6 million) in the previous year.
CarDekho actively competes with CarTrade, CarWale, and Droom. Droom has raised around $60 million in two funding rounds in 2018 from investors like Toyota, Digital Garage and Ellison Investments. CarTrade has raised a total of ₹1,680 ($240 million) in all funding rounds since its inception in 2009. CarWale has been acquired by CarTrade in 2015 for ₹630 crores ($90 million).
The automotive industry in India will touch the $280 billion mark by 2026. And India is expected to become the world’s third largest passenger vehicle market by 2021. And this huge opportunities ahead has attracted more than $19 billion in foreign direct investments between the period April 2000 to June 2018, according to a report by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
