Integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome raised funding, increased liquidity position to $200 M

The latest fundraising round for Malaysia-based integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group Inc. has closed, increasing the group’s liquidity position to about $200 million.

This funding round saw widespread participation from Carsome’s existing investors, including 65 Equity Partners, Seatown Private Capital Master Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, Gobi Partners, and Asia Partners, cementing confidence in the company’s profitability goals and new ecosystem initiatives, the company said in a statement.

In addition, a long-term debt facility from a new investor, EvolutionX Debt Capital (EvolutionX), a growth-stage debt financing platform that offers an alternative source of financing to technology companies in Asia, was attracted to the funding, according to the statement.

The group’s revenue increased by 250 percent to $1.5 billion in 2022, with Carsome Certified, a newly established regional retail line, accounting for 35 percent of the total.

Carsome achieves operational profitability for the first time in the first quarter of this year thanks to significant trade margin growth that more than doubled from the same time last year.

Particularly given its growing emphasis on ecosystem offerings, such as financing, insurance, and aftersales, it is noteworthy that more than 80% of the trade margin came from transaction margins, leaving a significant potential upside for ancillary revenue.

As an illustration of after-sales services, Carsome Service Centers (CSC) have experienced month-over-month growth of more than 100% since their launch at the end of last year and are anticipated to have nationwide coverage in Malaysia by the end of the third quarter of 2023.

Through its content and media ecosystem, which includes the brands under iCar Asia and Wapcar, the group currently has the largest auto digital audience footprint with more than 15 million monthly active users.

Carsome’s ecosystem companies have helped the group’s customer acquisition costs by 60 percent while also increasing their own revenue by over 30 percent and turning a profit as separate business units.

As evidenced by its customer satisfaction metrics, Carsome can provide personalized experiences and concentrate on customer centricity thanks to the ability to unify data across the entire ecosystem.

In the used car market, its retail division, Carsome Certified, has a strong net promoter score (NPS) of 77 points as of the first quarter of 2023.