CarDekho buys Rocket Internet-backed Carmudi to foray into Philippines

CarDekho, the new and used cars marketplace owned by Jaipur-based Girnar Software, has forayed into Philippines with the acquisition of Rocket Internet-backed Carmudi, an online car classifieds platform. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CarDekho will aggressively focus on building up and digitizing the ecosystem and offer end-to-end solutions to both new and used car buyers in Philippines, the company said in a statement.

“Philippines’ underlying macro fundamentals make it an extremely promising market. The market demand for new PVs in the Philippines has grown at a CAGR of 14 % during 2014-2018, with new car sales crossing 3,80,000 units in 2018. We see this growth as a big opportunity to digitize the Philippines auto ecosystem and engage with consumers throughout their online car buying journey,” Umang Kumar, co-founder and president, CarDekho Group said.

Founded in 2013, Carmudi is engaged in selling cars online in Southeast Asian markets. At its peak, it had a presence across Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American markets but later sold the businesses in many of those markets to focus only Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka.

About two months ago, the company sold its Indonesia business to iCar Asia for $3 million.

“CarDekho, a leading full-stack auto-tech company, backing us will help us in further strengthening our position in this region. This means added enhancements in technology, processes, and platform resulting in great user experience,” Cholo Syquia, country head, Carmudi Philippines, said.

Carmudi had raised $10 million in January last year after reducing its global footprint. It had previously secured about $35 million in two funding rounds during the 2014-2015 period to fuel its ambitious expansions.

CarDekho had expanded operations to Indonesia in 2016 under the brand name OTO. 

Founded in 2008 by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, the CarDekho Group operates other portals such as Gaadi.com, ZigWheels.com, BikeDekho.com, InsuranceDekho.com, PowerDrift.com, InsuranceDekho.com, TyreDekho.com and TrucksDekho.com.

In India, the company reported a 92% growth in revenues for the six months ended September 30, 2019, to $28 million despite a slowdown in the automobile industry.

The company’s new car segment, which contributes 80% of total revenues, grew 30%, while its used car segment grew 118%. The new car segment reported an increase on account of support from original equipment manufacturers and the platform’s consumer behavior-based solutions, said a statement.

Used cars transactions stood at $50 million during the first half of this year and the platform expects this number to increase significantly in the second half of the year.

In FY19 CarDekho reported a 63% increase in its revenue run rate to $53 million. In January, the company raised $110 million in a growth round from new and existing investors including private sector lender Axis Bank, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India, Ratan Tata-owned RNT Associates and CapitalG, earlier known as Google Capital.