Sequoia, others pump ₹770cr into CarDekho

BENGALURU: The year has got off to a good start for the Indian startup ecosystem. Online auto classifieds platform Car-Dekho said on Thursday that it has raised $110 million (Rs 770 crore) in a funding round led by Sequoia India. Private sector lender Axis Bank joined the round as a new investor in the Jaipur-based company. Existing investors — China’s Hillhouse Capital, and Alphabet’s growth investment arm CapitalG — also participated in the round.


CarDekho, which is owned by GirnarSoft and was launched 10 years ago, had raised about $75 million prior to the latest fund-raise. Its valuation after the latest round is said to be in the range of $450-500 million. The company did not comment on the matter.

Tybourne Capital, HDFC Bank, Ratan Tata, and Times

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, a part of the Times Group that publishes this newspaper, are also existing investors in the company. CarDekho plans to use the new capital to scale up its used car business along with allied businesses like financing and insurance.

At the end of December 2018, the used-car business contributed about 20% of overall revenue for the company, said CarDekho CEO and co-founder Amit Jain. “We have seen good growth in this business and the new capital will help it scale up further,” said Jain. By next year, this business is expected to contribute about 30% of the firm’s total revenue. The new car business still remains the largest for the company.