Singapore's Carro closes US$60m in Series B funding

South-east Asia’s automotive marketplace Carro announced the close of US$60 million in Series B funding. The deal was co-led by Softbank Ventures Korea, Insignia Ventures Partners and B Capital Group, with participation from the family office of Manik Arora (founder of IDG Ventures India). Existing investors Venturra, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures and Alpha JWC also participated in this round of fundraising.

Based in Singapore and founded in 2015, Carro has raised over US$75 million in funding to date.

Sean Lee, partner at Softbank Ventures Korea; Eduardo Saverin, co-founder and partner at B Capital Group; as well as Tan Yinglan, founding managing partner at Insignia Ventures Partners and ex-venture partner at Sequoia Capital, will join the board.

“We greatly appreciate the continued support from a growing investor base,” said Aaron Tan, CEO at Carro. “The expertise they bring to the table will allow us to continue scaling up our online marketplace as well as Genie Financial Services, Carro’s own financial services company, which is already profitable. With credit approvals in just a few minutes, the purchase of any car can be done in 30 minutes or less.”

“We will double down on our online marketplaces and financing in emerging markets this year. Ultimately, we want to improve the experience of selling and buying a car, as well as provide access to capital to the next billion people, which will improve the quality of lives.”

Tan also noted that Carro is not just going after a small part of the automotive industry. “What Aaron and the team are doing is truly transformative. We are excited to partner with Carro as we believe in its full stack automotive ecosystem approach, which offers products and services that are complementary to each other, leveraging network effect and economies of scale.”

In 2017, more than US$250 million worth of vehicle were transacted across Carro’s platforms in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. In the same year, Carro’s Genie Financial Services originated over US$100 million in loans, while a loan book of close to US$40 million was amassed in Carro’s first year of operation.

As consumers increase their trust in online commerce, the company said their willingness to purchase larger ticket items, such as automobiles, is on the rise. Saverin, Carro’s latest board member, added that the automotive industry lacks trust. “With Carro’s proprietary dealer operating system (OS), we believe that their unique know-how of the various C2C, C2B and B2B market models will place Carro in a very good position.”

Commenting on Carro’s all-inclusive suite, Lee said: “Carro’s platform has adapted to a rapidly evolving automotive market. The team has been able to discern what the needs of the modern user are and are working on solutions for the next generation auto ownership experience.”