Raising Series C Funding, Startup Carro Upgrades to Unicorn

Automotive marketplace Carro received Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 worth US$360 million, making it the first automotive marketplace unicorn in Southeast Asia.

An investor from Indonesia, EV Growth, also joined in this funding. CEO and founder of Carro Aaron Tan, said the transformation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will provide great interest to customers.

“We are grateful for the strong support from investors, which underscores our belief in the transformative power of AI in the automotive industry. This is an opportune time for the end-to-end online car marketplace. like Carro,” said Aaron Tan, Wednesday (16/6/2021).

The funds raised will be used for Carro to strengthen its market position and expand its products in the markets of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, whose markets grew significantly last year.

The funds raised will also be used to increase its financial services portfolio by expanding beyond in-house loan financing, as well as accelerating the development of AI capabilities.

Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers Greg Moon, said, “Carro is changing the automotive industry in Southeast Asia by providing a new experience in buying and selling cars.

“Powered by AI, Carro’s technology platform provides consumers with complete service and transparency throughout the car buying process,” said Moon.

SoftBank Group first invested in Carro in 2016 through SoftBank Ventures Asia, a venture capital firm that is a subsidiary of SoftBank.

Carro provides full stack services for all aspects of car ownership and uses AI technology to transform the car buying and selling experience through Singapore’s first contactless, online car buying service, the first car subscription service and behavior and usage based car insurance.

As of March 2021, Carro posted more than 2.5x revenue growth and continued its positive EBITDA position for the second year in a row.

Launched First Showroom in Indonesia

CARRO announced the opening of its first digital showroom series called CARRO Automall Point in BSD Tangerang as part of CARRO’s digitalization plan in Indonesia. 

It allows consumers to experience an easy used car buying experience at the location closest to their home.

CARRO Automall Point offers a variety of interactive showroom experiences, where consumers can virtually browse all the latest CARRO-Certified used car options available at CARRO.

They can also access complete information, including price information, features, and car history easily right from their fingertips.

When consumers have found the car of choice, they have the option to do a test drive on the spot or schedule a test drive at home, and CARRO will ship the car directly to the destination address.

Consumers can also choose various digital payment options offered by CARRO, including through Tokopedia.

Pioneer in the Indonesian Used Car Market Pasar

CARRO is a pioneer in the Indonesian used car market offering Certified Refresh used cars. This means, after the vehicle has passed rigorous inspections at 150 points, CARRO will carry out repairs and detailing to ensure the used car has been reconditioned so that it looks and feels like new.

“At CARRO, we take reconditioning very seriously. Because we want to provide the best customer satisfaction by providing quality used cars,” said Aditya.

All used cars at CARRO are guaranteed flood-free, accident-free, not stolen, no water or fire damage, original odometer, and equipped with service history and complete documents and papers.

CARRO also offers a 7 day money back guarantee, 90 days engine and transmission warranty, as well as a 1 year buy back guarantee.

In addition, consumers can also enjoy facilities that are usually provided for new cars, such as after-sales service and 1 year insurance and can choose from more than 50 financing options.