CARS24 is an Indian multinational online

used car A used car, a pre-owned vehicle, or a secondhand car, is a vehicle that has previously had one or more retailing, retail owners. Used cars are sold through a variety of outlets, including franchise and independent car dealership, car dealers, ...

marketplace headquartered in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

. The company is considered among the four major organised players in the used car segment in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

CARS24 was founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid and Ruchit Agarwal as a platform to buy and sell used cars. In 2021, the company expanded its operations internationally in several countries, including the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The CARS24 platform facilitates the transaction and has an offline presence. Apart from selling used cars, the company's services include paperwork such as transferring the car to the name of the new owner which enables end-to-end transactions and offers an online auction platform to businesses looking to sell their pre-owned cars. In 2019, the company started offering verified used cars where the company offered a buyback guarantee on the vehicles verified by inspection. The company operates 202 branches across 73 cities in India as of 2019. Apart from its own branches, the company has a tie-up with more than 10,000 channel partners across 230 cities in India. The company touched 150,000 annual car sales in 2019. CARS24 Official New Logo

In May 2020, the company launched CARS24 Moto. Cars24 Moto is a service which allows customers to sell used two-wheelers such as

motorbike A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat. Motorcycle designs var ...

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

s and scooters on its platform. It also launched a service offering vehicles inspection services at the customers location in place of their branch.

Funding and endorsements

CARS24 raised US$50 million in Series A and Series B rounds combined. In 2018, it raised a further US$50 million in Series C round of funding. CARS24 raised US$100 million in a Series D round of funding in 2019. Investors in the company include

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, specializing in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. the firm had appro ...

, Exor Seeds, partners of

DST Global DST Global is a venture capital and private equity firm that primarily invests in late-stage internet companies. DST Global has been described as one of the largest and most influential venture firms in the world, with an estimated $50 bill ...

, Kingsway Capital, KCK and Unbound and Moore Strategic Ventures. As a part of the series D round of funding, the company received an investment from cricketer

Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest O ...

, who simultaneously became the company's brand ambassador. Cars24 raised US$200 million in Series E round of funding in 2020 and became a unicorn startup as it was valued at over a $1 billion. Apart from Dhoni, actors

Boman Irani Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor and comedian who works primarily in Hindi-language films. One of the most popular character actors in Hindi cinema, he has featured in over 100 films, and is the recipient of a Filmfare Awar ...

Mandira Bedi Mandira Bedi (born 15 April 1972) is an Indian actress, fashion designer, and television presenter. She gained recognition by playing the title role in the 1994 television show, '' Shanti'', which was telecast on India's national channel, Doorda ...

and

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a National Film Award, an IIFA Award, and two Filmfare Awards, as well as a nomination for an ...

have endorsed the company in

commercial advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

s. Cars24 became the primary and front-of-shirt sponsor of

Sunrisers Hyderabad The Sunrisers Hyderabad, also known as SRH, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group and was found ...

(SRH) for

2022 Indian Premier League The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket ...

. Cars24's sponsorship of SRH marks the first time that a company from the second-hand cars category has sponsored an IPL team.

Subsidiaries

The company established Cars24 Financial Services as a subsidiary in 2019. The company received an NBFC license from

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

in July 2019. Cars24 Financial Services provides consumer loan facilities to

car dealer A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s and end customers in the used car segment across 50 cities in India. In 2019-20 the company claimed to have disbursed loans worth .

References

{{reflist Companies based in Gurgaon Indian companies established in 2015 Indian brands 2015 establishments in Haryana Online automotive companies Used car market