Carro raises US$30m to propel Southeast Asia expansion

Automotive marketplace Carro has secured US$30 million to further its expansion across Southeast Asia, starting with its acquisition of Indonesia’s C2C marketplace platform Jualo.com. Founded in 2013, Jualo.com has over four million users per month and facilitated transactions worth over US$1 billion in 2018. The marketplace helps private and professional sellers trade new and used goods in over 300 categories including cars, motorcycles, property, fashion, electronics; as well as post job adverts.The latest round is backed by new investors SoftBank Ventures Asia, government-linked global investor EDBI, Dietrich Foundation, NCORE Ventures, and Hanwha Asset Management. This brings Carro’s total funding amount to US$90 million, with over US$60 million raised from its last round by existing investors Insignia Ventures, B Capital Group, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures and Alpha JWC.Aaron Tan, the CEO and founder of Carro said its acquisition of Jualo.com will further boost the reach of its proprietary technology platform in Southeast Asia, especially as Indonesia is the region’s largest automotive market. He added that this underscores Carro’s commitment to provide better automotive trading experiences to Indonesians and propels its growth in Southeast Asia.“We are very excited about this deal, as Carro is the market leader in trusted and transparent automobile trading in Southeast Asia. Our business models are complementary in many aspects and this acquisition further drives our shared vision of empowering Indonesians with a safe and trusted marketplace,” Pedro Principe, CEO of Jualo.com said.Over the past year, Carro has expanded aggressively in Indonesia and Thailand and is now present in over 30 cities across three countries. As part of its expansionary efforts from last year, the company recorded over 4,000 vehicles transactions monthly on its platform in both Indonesia and Thailand, and garnered tens of thousands of dealers to join its Carro Wholesale network.Earlier in March, Carro launched the subscription-based car service in Singapore aimed at offering consumers the flexibility of selecting a plan and driving off with a car of their choice without the hassle of traditional car ownership. The company also took an integrated approach in promoting the new offering and marketed the solution across various touch points – digital media, a website focused on the service, and a public relations campaign.