CarDekho appoints ex-Yatra exec Pawan Chawla as IT head

Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, which owns auto classifieds portal CarDekho, has appointed former Yatra executive Pawan Chawla as its head of information technology.

Besides Yatra, Chawla has worked with Bertelsmann Marketing and American Home Mortgage Servicing as head of their IT infrastructure. He has about 15 years of experience in the IT industry that will come prove vital for CarDekho as it grows, CEO and co-founder Amit Jain said in a statement.

This is the second senior-level appointment by the company in three months. In December, the firm appointed former Zomato employee Umesh Horra as its chief financial officer.

Girnar Software owns CarDekho.com, Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com, BikeDekho.com and TyreDekho.com. It had acquired Zigwheels.com for an undisclosed sum in September last year. It was its third acquisition in the past year, besides price comparison site BuyingIQ and Gaadi.com. The six portals collectively clock 30 million unique visitors every month, Girnar claims.

In January last year, the company had raised $50 million (around Rs 307 crore then) in its Series B funding round from Chinese investment management firm Hillhouse Capital and Hong Kong-based hedge fund Tybourne Capital with participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital. The investment was done at a $300 million post-money valuation.