Girnar Software, which owns and runs auto classified portal CarDekho.com has raised Rs 16 crore from Sequoia Capital in an internal round of financing.
Sequoia Capital has invested the capital through the SCI Growth Investments II fund for 2,390 shares as per documents filed with the registrar of companies and accessed by business research platform Tofler. ET could not ascertain the valuation of the company in this round.
CarDekho, which competes with players like CarTrade and Quikr’s auto vertical, last raised about $15 million (Rs 96 crore) from Google Capital and Hillhouse Capital in March 2016 in a round that valued the company at about $366 million (Rs 2,346 crore).
The online auto classifieds marketplace market in India has slowed down over the last 3 years with marketplaces such as CarDekho focussing on used car financing as a revenue churning vertical to spur growth.
CarDekho saw consolidated revenues grow 38% to Rs 113 crore in FY17, up from Rs 82 crore last year with used car revenues alone surging 72%.
Of a 5,000-strong dealer network, CarDekho’s used car business alone has 3,000 dealers.
To be sure, revenues from the used car business form about 20% of the firm’s revenue pie. Within that, financing and insurance generate about 2/3rd of the used car business’ cash flow. ET had reported in April that Girnar Software had received a license from the regulator to launch a separate insurance vertical ‘Girnar Insurance Brokers’.
