As to a report by Bloomberg, Carro, a used-car marketplace located in Southeast Asia, aims to increase its valuation to more than $1.5 billion.
The business, which is getting ready to make its stock market debut, is hoping to raise about $100 million because it thinks the money will help it rise to the top of the industry. Carro is now in talks with investors for a pre-IPO investment round, according to CEO Aaron Tan. Its valuation might increase to more than $1.5 billion as a result.
According to Tan, Carro will be able to differentiate itself from competitors through innovations. He discussed one such device, dubbed the “Shazam of engines” since it used the sound of a car’s motors to assess a used car’s condition. In addition, it provides a five-day return policy and plans to open in Hong Kong and Japan later this year.
Carro is attempting to raise cash, but it is a particularly challenging moment for businesses to do so because of job losses, CEO resignations, and declining startup values in the local tech sector.
Over the past nine years, Carro has made significant financial investments to outfit its used-car dealerships, establish refurbishment centers, develop delivery networks, and acquire inventory. Additionally, the business has added advantages like quick shipping and no-quibble returns to encourage customers to make purchases online.
Carro would have to manage more than $100 million at all times, create routes, and supervise over a hundred trailers every day in order to move a large number of automobiles on a monthly basis.
“It’s easy to do this at a mom-and-pop shop level. But if you want to do this at scale, you need investments, you need a lot of space, you need the manpower and of course the tech and systems,” Tan said.
One of Carro’s early investors, Insignia Ventures Partners’ founding managing partner, Yinglan Tan, stated that Carro’s entry into Japan and Hong Kong has a lot of potential.
“It is important that Carro wins a few more markets in Asia Pacific, as the institutional investors in USA will find these APAC markets such as Japan and Hong Kong more sexy. Technology without discipline can lead to an early head start but also an early crash,” Yinglan Tan said.