Exclusive: CarDekho raises $41 Mn from Ping An, Lenarco; valuation surges to $643 Mn

CarDekho, the online marketplace for car sales in India, has raised $41 million in a Series D round from investors Ping An and Lenarco Limited and has managed to significantly boost its valuation in the five months since it closed its last round. 

CarDekho had closed a $110 million Series C round in January this year and was in talks to raise another $100 million from Ping An Group that runs AutoHome in China. While several media reports said that the next round will be in the range of three digits at a valuation of about $700 million, Ping An has invested $25.5 million (Rs 178.56 crore) in the Jaipur-based firm. 

According to regulatory filings with the MCA, the company has allotted 24,024 Series D compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of Rs 74,326 per share to Ping An Global Voyager. Additionally, the company also raised $15.4 million (Rs 108 crore) from Lenarco Limited. 

Lenarco, a Cyprus based SPV floated by AI Global Investments has paid a premium of Rs 14,024 for acquiring the same class of shares. Significantly, CarDekho has raised capital from the middle eastern investment firm at a valuation of Rs 4,564 crore ($642.8 million). It was valued at around $500 million during its Series C round in July.

This essentially means that CarDekho’s valuation rose by 28.5% in just five months.

As of now, CarDekho has raised over $242 million across five rounds. Early this year, the Amit Jain-led firm had acqui-hired CarBiqi and forayed into the auction model where it will be buying cars from consumers on behalf of dealers. It had also opened over a dozen stores across the National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Lucknow and Jaipur, among others.

Besides selling new and used cars, the company also started an insurance vertical - InsuranceDekho. Currently, it deals across auto and health insurance segments with 20 partners. With offline stores, CarDekho is eyeing to replicate the Cars24, Mahindra First Choice and CarNation type of model in the used car vertical.

During FY19, CarDekho had improved its financials and its revenue recorded a 62% growth to Rs 260 crore. It claimed that the new car segment was apparently EBIDTA positive and is the base for funding the businesses for its investment phase in FY20.

The company competes with the likes of Cars24, OLX ‘Cash My Car’, Droom and Cartrade. CarDekho now joins the “Soonicorn” list given that the valuation of the company has risen by about 28.5% to $643 million. Cars24 is another startup in this list with a valuation of $666 million.

Update: The round was closed at about $70 million.