India's Cars24 Raises $450 Mln In Latest Funding Round; Valuation Nearly Doubles

(RTTNews) - Cars24, a site and app that sells users cars in India, has raised $450 million from investors including SoftBank Group.

The latest round of funding values the used-car site at $1.84 billion, almost double from last year-end. Besides SoftBank, investors in the $340 million round of equity funding included DST Global, Falcon Edge Capital and Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd along with existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Exor Seeds. The startup also raised $110 million in debt financing from a mix of financial institutions.

Vikram Chopra, the CEO who co-founded the company with Mehul Agrawal, Ruchit Agarwal and Gajendra Jangid, said the company plans to use the funds across a range of areas.

"With the latest investment, CARS24 will expand its global presence as well as further build its cars, bikes and financing business in India, while continuing to invest in technology that delivers the best customer experience possible," the company said in a blog.

Cars24 is active more than 200 cities in India, and it has sold 400,000 vehicles to date, including cars and motorbikes.

"Just last month, we celebrated our six successful years of operations and we are incredibly excited to share that CARS24 has officially closed its largest round of funding to date. Traditionally, car selling or buying have been a tiresome process, and only 2 of 100 people own cars in India. However, over the last six years, we have been working continuously towards fulfilling the dreams of many Indians to own a car by transforming the customer's journey- 'the CARS24 way' that is hassle-free, safe and transparent. With this investment, we will continue to penetrate into existing car, bikes and financing business in India while venturing into new overseas geographies this year," Chopra said.