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Malaysia’s Carsome raises US$19M Series B round to strengthen presence in Indonesia and Thailand

Malaysia’s Carsome raises US$19M Series B round to strengthen presence in Indonesia and Thailand

Since January 2017, Carsome claimed to have experienced more than four-fold growth in total transaction value

Carsome Founder and CEO Eric Cheng

Malaysian online used car platform Carsome today announced that it has raised a US$19 million Series B funding round led by Burda Principal Investments, with participation of existing investors Gobi Partners, InnoVen Capital and Lumia Capital.

The current funding round followed a US$6 million funding it raised in June last year, which was a follow-up for its US$2 million Series A funding round.

The startup plans to use the new funding to strengthen its presence in Indonesia and Thailand, which is described as the largest automotive markets in the region with over 3.6 million used car being transacted annually.

It plans to do it by local talents acquisition and marketing across multiple channels.

Carsome is also planning to introduce new product verticals such as financing and warranties.

Founded in by Eric Cheng and Jiun Ee Teoh in 2015, the startup enables customers to sell their vehicles directly to dealers nationwide through an online bidding portal. It facilitates the entire car selling process from inspection, valuation, bidding and payment, and even logistics.

In addition to its operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the startup also has operations in Singapore.

Also Read: Carsome grabs US$350K in seed funding from 500 Startups

Since January 2017, the company claimed to have experienced more than four-fold growth in total transaction value, with the number of car sales facilitated on the platform grew more than quadrupled with more than 70 per cent of the transactions being done inter-city.

It is currently run by a team of 150.

When asked about the company’s most important milestones so far, Cheng explained to e27 in an email that Carsome has become Malaysia’s largest used car platform in transaction volume in 2017. It has given the startup the operational know-how in growing in Thailand and Indonesia, as the two markets are considered “very similar” to Malaysia.

“The biggest learning from this is in creating a seamless integration between online and offline environment, which is critical in scaling our business model,” he said.

In Indonesia, used car platforms such as BeliMobilGue has recently raised fundings. When asked about Carsome’s strategy to compete, Cheng stated that the company’s strength lies in its end-to-end selling process for sellers and its nationwide reach in each market.

“As a result, more than 70 per cent of transactions are inter-city trade. Similar to how e-commerce enables you to buy from anyone anywhere,” he closed.

Image Credit: Carsome

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