Carro, a Southeast Asian online automotive platform headquartered in Singapore, has successfully raised US$ 360 million in its Series C funding round, becoming the region’s new unicorn.

Investors: The funding round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 along with several prominent Indonesian based funds, including EV Growth. In the past, Carro has raised more than US$ 400 million in equity and US$ 200 million in debt. It has received past investment from SoftBank Ventures Asia, EDBI Pte, Insignia Ventures Partners and B Capital Group. The company has also started preparing internally for an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 18-24 months in the United States.

Purpose of the Funding: Carro seeks to bolster its market position and broaden its retail services across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore – markets that have witnessed remarkable growth in the past year. It also plans to use the funds to enrich its portfolio of financial services by diversifying beyond in-house loan financing, as well as intensify the pace of development of its artificial intelligence capabilities.

About Carro

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Founded in 2015 by Aaron Tan, Carro began as an online marketplace for cars before growing into more verticals. The company’s operations are branched into three sections: wholesale, retail and fintech. The wholesale business operates with car dealers who wish to purchase inventory, whereas the retail sector sells directly to consumers. On the other hand, its fintech operation sells products to both parties, including B2C car loans, auto insurance and B2B working capital loans. The company offers exceptional service for all facets of car ownership and exercises artificial intelligence-powered technology to modify the car buying and selling experience. It has established advanced and unique services such as Singapore’s first contactless car purchase service, first car subscription service and the first region-wide behaviour and usage-based car insurance.

Although the company witnessed an initial contraction in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like other digital businesses, the company is now reaping the benefits from users shifting to online transactions.

What the Founder has to say: “This is a remarkable achievement for us. We are thankful to our investors for their strong support, which reassures our faith in the revolutionising power of AI in the automotive industry to deliver a prodigious customer experience. As digitalisation moulds the global landscape through new consumer tastes and business preferences, it is exhilarating for an end-to-end online car portal like Carro. People are inclined towards purchasing vehicles online without the exigency to visit a showroom.”- Aaron Tan, CEO and founder of Carro.

What the Investors have to say: “Powered by AI, Carro’s online automotive platform offers consumers satisfactory services and transparency throughout the car ownership process. We are elated to invest in Carro to assist them in fulfilling their ambition to diversify into new markets and wield AI-powered technology to make the car buying system smarter, safer and easier.”- Greg Moon, Managing Partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers.

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Sankalp majorly focuses on writing newsletters on VCBay. He is pursuing Bachelors in Economics from the University of Delhi and exhibits proficiency in content writing and research.

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