Cars24 widens Fy19 losses despite revenue jump; S’pore parent infuses $44 mn

Cars24 Services, which operates an online platform for used cars, reported a 150% increase in its revenues for the financial year 2018-19 to Rs 1,654 crore. Its losses, however, widened to Rs 326 crore from Rs 79 crore a year ago.

Costs during the year grew more than two-fold to Rs 1,265 crore as the company increased its purchases of used cars. The company buys used cars from owners and sells them to dealerships and other used car portals. Users can get their vehicles evaluated online and then sell their car to the company. In FY19, it bought used cars worth Rs 1,622 crore against Rs 622 crore a year ago.  

Cars24’s advertising costs grew four-fold to Rs 185 crore and salary costs increased three-fold to Rs 143 crore, regulatory filing showed.  

The Gurugram headquartered company was founded in 2015 by Mehul Agarwal and Vikram Chopra after selling their online furniture startup Fabfurnish.com to Kishore Biyani-led Future Group.

Separately, Cars24’s parent entity Global Car Group infused $44 million in the company through a share issue on rights basis, the filing showed.

In October 2019, the company raised $100 million in a growth round from London-based investment firm Unbound and New York headquartered Moore Strategic Ventures along with returning investors Sequoia Capital India, Fiat Motors owner Agnelli Family, and Toronto-based KCK Global.

In August, it raised an undisclosed amount in a Series D round from former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni, who is also the brand ambassador for Cars24.

Cars24 competes with other used car portals such as Trubil, Droom and CarDekho.