CarTrade valuation surges by 35% to $525 Mn in Series H round

Used car segment has been witnessing back to back deals since the beginning of this year. After Spinny and CarDekho, CarTrade is set to raise Rs 321.6 crore in a Series H round from existing investors Temasek, Warburg Pincus and March Capital Partners.

Highdell, Temasek and March Capital will be investing Rs 107.2 crore each for 12,99,075 shares respectively, as per regulatory filings. According to Fintrackr’s calculation, CarTrade will be valued at around Rs 3,930.3 crore ($525 million). The company’s valuation has jumped by 35% as compared to its last funding round when it raised Rs 242.3 crore from Temasek in 2017.

After the completion of the Series H round, Warburg Pincus (via Hidell Investment) will be the biggest stakeholder in the company, commanding 34.74% stake worth Rs 1,365.6 crore($182.1 million). Temasek would own 26.7% in the Mumbai-based firm. The Singapore government-owned firm’s stake is valued about Rs 1,050 crore ($140 million).

March Capital Partners, who skipped the last funding round now have a total shareholding of 9.87% in CarTrade worth Rs 388.5 crore($51.8 million).

JP Morgan had last invested in the Series E round of the Mumbai based company and controlled around 12.03% shares valued at Rs 473 crore($63 million).

CarTrade’s founder and CEO Vinay Sanghi’s stake has been diluted to 5.7% post this round. His total holdings are worth nearly Rs 225.2 crore($30 million). Importantly, the company’s current ESOPs pool is pegged at 6.86% and valued Rs 270 crore($36 million).

For the unaware, CarTrade runs several verticals in the used car segment but it has been focusing on two core verticals: auctioning cars for dealers from banks, NBFCs and insurance companies and lead generation for new car business (via Carwale). 

The company also acquired a 51% stake in the vehicle and equipment auctioning platform Sriram Auto Mall that also deals in heavy commercial vehicles and farm equipment. According to Entrackr sources, CarTrade also downscaled its franchise business and consumer-facing verticals in the past year. 

Used car segment has been drawing a significant amount of interest from venture capital and strategic investors. Cars24 had raised $100 million led by Unbound and KCK Global in October while Spinny cornered $50 million from The Fundamentum Partnership in March 2020. 

CarDekho raised $41 million in a Series D round from Ping An and Lenarco Limited. The valuation of the Jaipur-based firm touched $643 million in Dec.

Entrackr had exclusively reported the funding rounds of Spinny and CarDekho.