Malaysia’s Carsome raises $200m at $1.3b valuation

The equity piece was accompanied by $30 million in new credit facilities. It follows an initial Series D of $30 million in December 2020 and a $50 million Series C in late 2019. Carsome has now raised more than $300 million to date. In between the two Series D tranches, the company acquired Southeast Asia automotive web portal operator iCar Asia from Catcha Group for $185 million.

Catcha was among the participants in the Series D extension, alongside Indonesian media group MediaTek, Malaysian government-backed Penjana Kapital, and ASEAN-focused boutique investor Emissary Capital. An unnamed Asian sovereign wealth fund also came in as a new investor.

There were re-ups from the likes of Asia Partners, Gobi Partners, 500 Southeast Asia, Ondine Capital, MUFG Innovation Partners, and Daiwa PI Partners, according to a statement. Asia Partners led the first tranche of the Series D, with support from Burda Principal Investments and Ondine.

Founded in 2015, Carsome runs an online portal that 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.

The new funding will go towards expansion of a B2C business to complement the established C2B operation. Carsome has opened at least seven B2C retail centers across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, with more to follow before the end of the year. It has also opened its first vehicle reconditioning facility in Malaysia.

Carsome transacts more than 100,000 cars on an annualized basis, which translates to $1 billion in revenue. The plan is to create Southeast Asia’s first integrated C2B and B2C platform for used cars, including a financing component. Numerous products are already available for car buyers and used car dealers, and a financing solution aimed at graduates was recently launched.

More M&A and strategic investment is expected as well. In addition to iCar Asia, Carsome has acquired Universal Collection, a Jakarta-based car and motorcycle auction business.

“Carsome is number one in the market while achieving operational profitability, building a world-class executive team, and reimagining how we buy cars,” said Thomas Tsao, co-founder of Gobi. “Since 2015, Gobi is proud to have participated in five capital rounds for the company, and we will continue supporting Carsome’s mission to lead the digital transformation of Southeast Asia’s car industry.”

The company’s competitors include Carro, which facilitates sales of used vehicles across the C2B, B2B, and B2C verticals, and is aggressively pushing into financial services. Carro received a S$477 million ($355 million) funding round in June, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Rothschild acted as the financial advisor to Carsome on the latest deal.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Malaysia
• automobiles
• TMT
• Growth capital
• Gobi Partners
• Asia Partners
• 500 Startups