Droom earmarks $100 mn capex for tech, marketing

Online automobile marketplace Droom will pump in about $100 million (about Rs 718 crore) this year towards further strengthening its technology offerings, marketing, and new initiatives, its founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal said. The company, which aims to touch $120 million (about Rs 862 crore) in net revenue by 2021, is also looking at expanding its international operations to six new markets including Indonesia, Vietnam, and the UAE this year.

"We have earmarked a CAPEX (capital expenditure) of about $100 million this year. Of this, about $50 million will be towards marketing and promotion, $30 million for headcount and technology and roughly $20 million for new initiatives," Aggarwal told PTI.

He added that the company has been working on keeping its cash burn low and is hopeful of also hitting profits by the end of the year.

Aggarwal said the company has already established presence in three international markets and is looking at growing that further this year.

Droom is looking at Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia and the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.

"While we are aggressively expanding our international presence, we are also deepening our presence within the Indian market as we believe this will continue to be the mainstay of our business. Less than 10 percent of our revenues will come from international operations," he said.

The company also plans to raise about $150 million before it launches an initial public offering (IPO) in 2021.

It has so far raised close to $125 million in six rounds of funding from investors like Lightbox, Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and Integrated Assets Management.

Droom had clocked a gross merchandise value of $1.2 billion on its platform with net revenue of $32 million in 2019. Its platform processed over 6.1 lakh orders last year.