Some of India’s biggest online vendors of used cars are trimming costs and quitting secondary ventures to prepare for potential stock listings that could raise more than $1 billion combined, according to people familiar with the development.
Three Unicorn startups — CARS24 Services Pvt., CarDekho and Spinny — that buy and sell pre-owned vehicles are in early talks with bankers to assess investor appetite, the people said, asking not to be named as the talks are private. The startups are also assessing restructuring requirements necessary for their businesses to be ready for initial share sales, they said.
These companies are targeting their initial public offerings over the next 12 to 18 months, the people said. Talks are exploratory and none of them have hired advisers yet for drafting documents.
The online used car marketplaces are looking to cash in on the growing investor interest in domestic-focused businesses in India, which has emerged as the third busiest IPO destination in the world this year. Firms in the South Asian nation have raised more than $10 billion through first-time share sales in 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
SoftBank Group Corp.-backed CARS24 has carried out a sweeping overhaul of operations over the past year, slashing hundreds of jobs across its non-core units as well as product and tech teams, the people said. The company has also shuttered its enterprise spare-parts venture Inspare and car-servicing business FourDoor, to focus on the mainstay used-car marketplace, they added.
Leaner Operations
The job cuts are also a reflection of the pressures these companies are facing to make operations leaner. Early investors in the space — which include Google Capital, Tencent and Tiger Global Management — are driving the push to make the businesses profitable quickly. The flow of private capital is also drying up in a crowded second-hand car market, forcing the firms to pivot back toward core operations, the people said.
CARS24 posted 5 billion rupees loss in the year ended March 2024, according to data from market research firm Tracxn. The company had raised about $450 million from investors including SoftBank, and Tencent in December 2021 at a valuation of $3.2 billion.
Competitor CarDekho, run by Girnar Software Pvt., was aiming to file IPO papers in early 2025 but has deferred those plans now, the people said. The company plans to merge its insurance arm, InsuranceDekho, with RenewBuy, according to a local media report.
Spinny, officially named Valuedrive Technologies Pvt., has also slowed down expansion and is seeking fresh capital, the people said.
Business Restructuring
Smaller rival Droom has restructured its business to focus on the premium and luxury segments and is looking to refile IPO documents, according to local media reports. It has slashed promotional and operating costs after a steep decline in revenues over the last two years, according to Neha Singh, chief executive officer of market research firm, Tracxn.
CarDekho declined to comment on the company’s plans. CARS24, Spinny, and Droom did not respond to requests seeking confirmation on their cost cutting and IPO plans.
CarDekho, Spinny and Droom also reported losses in the year through March 2024, according to data compiled by Tracxn.
CarTrade Tech Ltd., the operator of CarWale and CarTrade platforms, is the only publicly traded company in this business. Its IPO in 2021 got an overwhelming response with demand hitting 20 times of shares being sold. The company’s stock has surged 63% this year, compared with about 7% gain for the NSE Nifty 50 Index.
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