Chinese insurer Ping An leads $70 mn growth round in CarDekho

CarDekho, the new and used cars marketplace owned by Jaipur-based Girnar Software, has raised $70 million in growth equity funding round led by Chinese insurer Ping An’s Global Voyager Fund.

Sunley House Capital Management, a subsidiary of global private equity firm Advent International joined the round along with the startup’s existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Hillhouse Capital, the company said in a press statement.

The deal marks Ping An’s first investment in India. 

Shenzhen-headquartered Ping An is one of the world’s largest financial services companies and is also the majority shareholder of China’s largest auto portal Autohome.

“Auto services are a core component of Ping An’s ‘finance + ecosystem’ strategy, reflected in our majority shareholding in Autohome in China. We have been extremely impressed with the business CarDekho has built in India, particularly its success in developing different types of financial services offerings to address car buyers’ needs,” Donald Lacey, managing director and COO of the Ping An Global Voyager Fund, said. 

Established in 2017, the Ping An Global Voyager Fund is a Hong Kong-based growth stage investor. It typically invests between $15-$50 million. The fund has invested approximately $250 million across Europe, Asia and North America so far.

With this round, CarDekho has raised more than $250 million so far.

In its last funding round, the company had secured $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 in January.

The company said the funds will be used to strengthen its transaction businesses and expand its international footprint.

“With the latest fundraise, we will continue to strengthen our domestic and international businesses and will aggressively work towards becoming the largest personal mobility ecosystem in the country,” said Amit Jain, CEO and co-founder, CarDekho.

CarDekho announced its foray into Philippines with the acquisition of Rocket Internet-backed Carmudi, an online car classifieds platform last week. It had earlier expanded operations to Indonesia in 2016 under the brand name OTO.

The company claims to work with over 4,000 new auto dealerships and 3,000 used car dealers across India. It also collaborates with more than 10 financial institutions and 18 insurance companies across the country to facilitate used car financing and insurance to buyers and sellers on the platform. 

The RainMaker Group acted as the sole financial advisor to the Company.

Founded in 2008 by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, the CarDekho Group operates a slew of 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,

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.