SAIF commits $5m in Series A funding to India's Zoomo
SAIF Partners has led a $5 million Series A round of funding for YoungMonk Technologies, the start-up behind peer-to-peer (P2P) used car marketplace Zoomo.
Set up in July last year, Zoomo allows users to buy pre-inspected and certified cars directly from owners. By cutting out the middle-man the platform claims to offer the best price to both sellers and buyers.
The company does not make any commission on transactions, and users can list cars for free. Instead, Zoomo generates revenue by charging for value-added services such as processing paperwork, advance booking, loans, insurance, warranty and refurbishing.
Zoomo has 110 employees across Bengaluru and Mumbai, including a team of 30 automobile engineers. The company is also looking to launch operations in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Chandigarh by the end of this year.
The start-up has now raised over $6 million. It previously raised a $1 million seed round from SAIF last December. The latest round will be used to grow its technology platform and expand into seven new cities.
According to LiveMint, the new car market in India is around 2.5 million units a year. By comparison, the used car market is between 3 million and 3.5 million units and is expected to see compound annual growth of 20%.
Zoomo is not the only player in this space. Automobile trading platform CarDekho raised a $50 million Series B round of funding led by Hillhouse Capital in January, and more recently acquired price comparison portal BuyingIQ. Prior to that it bought rival auto portal Gaadi.com in September 2014.
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