Malaysia's Carsome raises $50m Series C

Daiwa participated via its private equity unit Daiwa PI Partners, while Mitsubishi UFJ invested via its venture arm MUFG Innovation Partners. They were joined by US-based Endeavor Catalyst and China’s Ondine Capital, as well as existing investors Gobi Partners and Convergence Ventures

Carsome operates a C2B model whereby an online portal allows car owners to source bids for their vehicles from pre-screened commercial car dealers and access support services across the sales process, including inspection, valuation, payment, and logistics. The company says its inspectors appraise cars on site using “proprietary inspector toolsets” and pricing models. 

Carsome positions itself as Southeast Asia’s leading operator in this space with a strong presence in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. This coverage includes more than 6,000 dealers in around 50 cities, including Singapore. The business claims to have facilitated transactions for one million customers and 40,000 cars worth a total of $300 million since inception in 2015.

“We’re excited to be partnering with [CEO Eric Cheng] and his team - their technology-first approach to solving the used car industry’s biggest pain points such as long wait times for sales and lack of transparency in the sales process for budget-conscious SMEs [small to medium-sized enterprises] and consumers has compelling advantages over existing competitors,” Nobutake Suzuki, president and CEO of MUFG Innovation Partners, said in a statement.

The fresh capital will be used to expand into more cities in Southeast Asia and build out financial product offerings. As part of the investment, Carsome will collaborate with MUFG and its regional subsidiaries including Bank Danamon, which is considered the leading used car financier in Indonesia, and Bank of Ayudhya, Thailand’s fifth largest bank. Carsome is operationally profitable in Malaysia and targets profitability in its other markets by end-2020.

Previous strategic backers include Burda Principal Investments, a division of Germany’s Hubert Burda Media that has relevant experience in the region through its acquisition of a 25% stake in Thai price comparison site Priceza. Burda led a $19 million Series B for Carsome last year that helped lift the company’s staff from 150 to the current headcount of 700.  Past investors also include InnoVen Capital, Lumis Capital, 500 Startups, Spiral Ventures, Idea River Run, and IMJ Investment Partners.

Carsome’s competitors include Malaysia’s Carlist, which was acquired by iCarAsia, a subsidiary of Catcha Media, and Singapore-based Carro, which operates across C2C, C2B and B2B models and secured a $60 million Series B last year. Last year, Indonesia’s BeliMobilGue, a used car trading platform backed by a number of VCs, raised a $10 million Series A that featured local dealer Toyota Tunas Indonesia. BeliMobilGue operations focus strongly on the Jakarta region.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Malaysia
• Mitsubishi UFJ Capital
• Gobi Partners
• Convergence Ventures
• automobiles
• Financial Services
• TMT