CarDekho turns unicorn, valued at $1.2 billion in pre-IPO round 

CarDekho, a seller-focused platform for used and new cars, said on October 13 that it has raised $250 million in an equity and debt funding round valuing it at $1.2 billion, leading up to a stock market listing next year.

The deal, led by LeapFrog Investments with other new investors such as Mirae Asset, Franklin Templeton, Canyon Partners and Harbor Spring Capital, makes CarDekho India’s 33rd unicorn in 2021 in a record breaking year for startup funding. Early investor Sequoia Capital and Sunley House also invested.

‘A complete ecosystem’

CarDekho, which also has an insurance vertical and launched a buyer focused platform recently, said it buys cars in over 100 markets and has over 3,000 cars on its platform for purchase, with an annual revenue run rate of $100 million.

“CarDekho, from being a car research portal, has evolved to become a complete ecosystem for car buying, lifecycle management and selling … the new fundraise will help us expand our used-car transactions and financial services business,” cofounder and CEO Amit Jain said.

While CarDekho was valued at about $800 million in late 2019 — the most valued player at the time — its valuation was surpassed by Cars24 and Spinny recently. Cars24 has raised funds from investors led by SoftBank and is valued at $1.8 billion, while Spinny is raising its third funding round this year, at a valuation of nearly $2 billion.