Carsome scoops US$170 million funding and becomes Burda’s second unicorn

BurdaPrincipal Investments (BPI), the growth capital arm of Hubert Burda Media, adds another unicorn to its investment portfolio as the Carsome Group (Carsome), Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform, today announced the closure of its US$170 million Series D2 round of funding, bringing the company’s valuation to US$1.3 billion and cementing its position as Malaysia’s largest tech unicorn.

Burda participated in the current round and has been invested in Carsome since 2018. The company transacts more than 100,000 cars on annualised basis which translates to around US$1 billion in transacted sales. With operations across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, Carsome aims to digitize the region’s used car industry by reshaping and elevating the car buying and selling experience.

Carsome marks the second unicorn in BPI’s investment portfolio as the Lithuanian company Vinted, a platform aiming to make second-hand fashion the first choice and a BPI portfolio company since 2015, surpassed the $1bn mark in 2019.

“Carsome is showcasing the superior scalability and economic profile of platform models compared to more traditional, linear businesses. We look forward to seeing Carsome continue its expansion across Southeast Asia.”

Christian Teichmann, CEO of BurdaPrincipal Investments

“Carsome has overcome a lot of adversity to become Southeast Asia’s leading end-to-end used car platform, and we are tremendously proud of what Eric and the team have accomplished over these past few years.”

Albert Shyy, Managing Director Asia at BurdaPrinicipal Investments