Malaysian Online Car Seller Carsome Raises $300M

The Malaysian online used-car marketplace Carsome Group has raised nearly $300 million in a funding round.

As Bloomberg News reported Friday (Jan. 7), that funding was led by the Qatar Investment Authority, 65 Equity Partners and SeaTown Holdings, Pte., with the latter two being linked to Temasek Holdings Pte.

Sources tell Bloomberg that Carsome — Malaysia’s most valuable tech startup – is planning a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) later this year.

Carsome began feeling out investors late last year in hopes of raising $200 million. A previous funding round valued the company at $1.3 billion, making it Malaysia’s first unicorn, and earned $170 million.

Read more: Malaysia’s Used Car Site Carsome Eyes US SPAC, Traditional IPO

Talk about an IPO for Carsome first surfaced in June, although there was speculation at the time that the company could also go public through a special purpose acquisition company, following in the footsteps of other Southeast Asian firms that went public with the help of SPACs, including Tiket.com, based in Indonesia, and Singapore’s PropertyGuru.

Founded in 2015, Carsome sells around 40,000 cars each year, with a transaction value of more than $600 million and a dealer network of about 8,000. The company has since expanded into Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.

Read more: Pandemic Revs Up Digital Car Sales For Online Platforms

Online used car sales saw a boost during the pandemic, as PYMNTS has previously noted. This sector took off when customers realized they no longer have to take time out of their day and spend several hours in a car dealership trying to find the right vehicle.

And even if they wanted to visit a dealership, the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak – to say nothing of future variants – has led dealers and automakers to retool their business strategies, focusing on creating new digital-sales tools that offer more tailored, digital services.

Carsome hasn’t been the only company enjoying the benefits, with car platform Cazoo getting $310 million in funding in October 2020. The U.K. company’s model involves purchasing and refurbishing vehicles before re-selling them online.