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Auto marketplace Carro raises US$12M, embraces fintech with new app Genie Finance

genie finance team

While the lead investor is undisclosed, Carro said that investors from previous round have also participated in this one

The Genie Finance team

Singapore-based auto marketplace Carro today announced it has raised US$12 million in funding.

Though the lead investor was undisclosed, Carro CEO Aaron Tan explained in an email to e27 that investors from the company’s previous round of funding — such as Venturra Capital, Alpha JWC, and Singtel Innov8 — are also participating in this round.

The new funding will be used to develop the Genie Finance app, a product of Carro’s wholly-owned subsidiary Genie Financial Services.

The app uses algorithms to “quickly and accurately” reprice and compute a loan to suit an individual’s risk profile. It also offers 24/7 customer support through chatbots.

Apart from offering financing and re-financing packages from conventional banks, Genie also underwrites the loan itself, allowing the firm to “better innovate and provide for a speedy loan approval process.”

The birth of the Genie’s team came from the startup’s own internal need to simplify auto financing process.

“As Carro got to scale, we realised that getting access to auto financing can be complicated. We set up a team to look into providing a one-stop, speedy, hassle free solution for customers looking for auto financing. That team eventually became Genie,” said Alpha JWC Managing Partner Managing Partner Chandra Tjan in a press statement.

Also Read: C2C used car marketplace Caramo raises seed funding from VietnamWorks founder

Targets and plans

Carro was founded in 2015 by a team of data scientists, “petrol-heads”, and venture capitalist. It claims to have transacted over US$50 million-worth of cars in 2016 alone.

It also built fair-price evaluation tool called graph.sg and an accessories retail website called Carro Accessories. It also has autobody workshop search app Carro Workshop, and has recently launched on-demand vehicle trade-in auction marketplace Carro Express.

Tan stated that the company plan to “aggressively” grow transactions across the group to over US$500 million by end of year.

“For Genie specifically, we are looking to finance above US$100 million-worth of cars on a run-rate basis for the first year,” he wrote.

When the company raised its previous round in June 2016, Carro cited plans to expand beyond Singapore and have a presence in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand by the end of 2016.

Tan updated that it has since established a presence in Indonesia and Thailand.

“We are looking to triple down on our growth and investment in these regional markets rapidly over the next few months,” he closed.

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Image Credit: Carro

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