CarDekho SEA, a Singapore-based auto financing service platform, has raised $60 million in fairness, valuing the corporate at over $300 million, from Navis Capital Companions and Dragon Fund. That is its first spherical of exterior funding, following a earlier funding of $40 million from its mum or dad firm, CarDekho Group.
The corporate, the Southeast Asia unit of India’s CarDekho Group, will use the funding to help its additional enlargement into Southeast Asia, specializing in the used automobile and bike financing business in Indonesia and the used auto financing sector within the Philippines, Umang Kumar, co-founder and president of CarDekho, mentioned in an interview with TechCrunch.
Kumar informed TechCrunch that buying a used automobile financing platform or insurance coverage brokerage platform in Indonesia and the Philippines may very well be one in all its methods to extend their presence within the area.
“We do have a few belongings lined up by way of what we are going to take a look at. You might hear one thing alongside these traces inside a month or two…we are going to actively take a look at buying actions. The concept just isn’t fully organically constructed. So we are going to take a look at some inorganic acquisition as we construct out our enterprise throughout Southeast,” Kumar mentioned.
Based in 2020, the corporate already has a big presence in Indonesia (OTO Indonesia) and the Philippines (Carmudi Philippines and Zigwheels Philippines). It’s additionally in a number of different Southeast Asian markets, akin to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and is eyeing enlargement into new markets in 2026.
Kumar defined that the corporate initially had a three way partnership companion in Indonesia however later purchased out the native companion fully, changing into the 100% proprietor of the entity between 2019 and 2020. The corporate’s acquisition spree continues because it acquired Carmudi, which operates within the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, in 2021 to broaden into SEA, Kumar defined.
In contrast to its friends, CarDekho SEA acts as a complete aggregator for auto financing providers. Its principal competitor was once Moladin, which has now pivoted to turn out to be a full-fledged lender.
CarDekho SEA highlights its edges, together with its technology-driven mortgage procedures, asset-light market strategy with no credit score threat, an in depth community of used automobile sellers and brokers, and strong collaborations with monetary establishments. CarDekho SEA will use AI and machine studying options to scale back fraud and credit score dangers and supply extra information to their financing companions to reach a altering technological setting.
Since its launch, the corporate has skilled vital progress, with over 200,000 disbursements and over $1 billion in loans disbursed. This represents a 50x enhance in gross merchandise worth over the previous three years and establishing partnerships with over 50 financiers and 20,000 sellers and retail brokers.
Its main prospects are small-scale used automobile sellers, with many having lower than ten automobiles in inventory or no bodily showroom in any respect. “Resulting from their sub-scale presence, financiers typically discover it difficult to serve them straight,” the CEO mentioned. “Our platform aggregates demand from these particular person sellers, connecting them to a large community of financiers and providing entry to quite a lot of monetary merchandise for themselves and their prospects—merchandise that had been beforehand inaccessible to them.”
The corporate is within the scale-up section, producing upwards of $50 million in income yearly by per-loan commissions with the financiers.
