CarTrade raises $55 mn from Singapore's Temasek, others

Automobile classifieds portal CarTrade.com has raised Rs 370 crore ($55 million) in a funding round led by existing investor Temasek Holdings (Singapore government's investment firm) and a US family office, a company statement said on Wednesday.

CarTrade, however, didn't disclose the name of the family office.

The company will use the funds to make acquisitions, expand into new areas like auto finance, and sharpen its services to consumers, dealers and OEMs, the statement added.

In January 2016, CarTrade had secured Rs 950 crore ($145 million then) from Temasek Holdings, US-based March Capital and existing investor Warburg Pincus.

"The funds will be used to drive growth through continued focus on strengthening our dealer and customer services and evaluating potential acquisitions. CarTrade is aggressively looking at the used car finance market, with less then 8% of used cars sold being financed through an organised financier. To address this opportunity, CarTrade Finance was recently launched," said Vinay Sanghi, founder and CEO, CarTrade, a former CEO of Mahindra First Choice.

Apart from being an online marketplace, CarTrade also provides reviews, on-road prices, car comparisons and latest auto news.

The company had acquired rival CarWale in November 2015 for an undisclosed amount. As part of the deal, German media conglomerate Axel Springer sold its 91.3 percent stake in CarWale, owned by Automotive Exchange Pvt Ltd, to Car Trade Pvt Ltd.

The combine, which claims to have about 15 million unique visitors per month, has struck partnerships with approximately 8,000 car dealers. The platform lists more than 200,000 used cars for sale and auctions as many on the wholesale market every year.

CarTrade competes with the likes of CarDekho (which acquired Gaadi.com) and Droom, apart from horizontal P2P platforms such as OLX and Quikr.