cartrade, CarTrade, mxc solutions, cartrade raises $55 million, fund raising, indian economy, temasek invests in cartrade
Heavy traffic moves along a busy road during the evening in New Delhi October 20, 2014 (representational image).Reuters file

CarTrade, a portal that facilitates sale of used cars in India, raised $55 million in Series G round of funding led by Temasek, the sovereign wealth fund owned by Singapore government. Other investors included an unnamed US investor.

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"CarTrade is on a rapid growth trajectory. The funds raised will be used to drive growth through continued focus on strengthening our dealer and customer services and evaluating potential acquisitions," Vinay Sanghi, Founder and CEO of the portal told the DealStreetAsia.

In November 2015, CarTrade had acquired 91 percent stake in rival CarWale from Axel Springer in a $90 million-cash deal, following it up by raising ~$142 million in a funding round led by Temasek and global investment company March Capital, in January last year.

Other investors of seven-year-old CarTrade include Warburg Pincus, Canaan Partners and Tiger Global Management.

CarTrade, owned by MXC Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., was founded by Sanghi in 2010. He was earlier associated with Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd.

An update by Tracxn says that CarTrade has information on about 1.70 lakh cars and has tie-ups with over 1,200 dealers. The portal claims to have about four million visitors every month.

In an interview recently, Sanghi has said that the potential for used cars is huge. "In developed markets, the ratio of new to used cars is 1:3, while in India it is 1:1," he had told the India Infoline News Service.