Online Marketplace of pre-owned Cars ‘Zoomo’ raises $5M from SAIF Partners

Bangalore-based online marketplace of pre-owned cars, Zoomo has raised $5 million in series A round from SAIF Partners, a venture capital firm with over $4B under management. The investment will be used to strengthen their operations, technology and product leadership in their niche. In December 2014, the company had received $1 million in seed funding led by SAIF Partners.

The peer-to-peer platform for user car transactions helps the patrons to buy verified, pre-inspected cars from direct owners without paying any brokerage. It operates in Bangalore & Mumbai, with impending launches in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad & Chandigarh. It follows a business model that seeks no commission or listing fees. Instead, it cuts out intermediaries, dealers and brokers, ensuring the relevant price to its buyers and sellers.

Commenting on this alliance with SAIF Partners, Arnav Kumar, Co-founder, and CEO, Zoomo said, “Used car selling/buying doesn’t have to be the broken, frustrating experience it is today. e-commerce is booming but car transactions have remained an opaque, non-standardized experience. Some liken it to a fish market. A $10 billion industry and 6 million used car customers deserve better. We are out to standardize the market, allowing users to transact with the same confidence as ordering from their favorite eCommerce store.”

Users are offered services throughout the transaction process including car short listing, establishing a fair price, inspection, paperwork, advance booking, loans, insurance, warranty, refurbishing and post sales support. It targets 1000 transactions per month by October.

The startup has also launched its app for Android users. The app lists only verified cars and also provides alerts based on user’s preferences across parameters such as budget, age of car, fuel system, and the number of kilometres the car has registered so far. The company claims to have over 2000 used cars listed on its app.

The other players in this space include CarTrade.com (backed by Tiger Global), CarDekho.com (backed by Sequoia Capital), Carwale.com (by Axel Springer & India Today Group) and Times Group owned Zigwheels.com. OLX and Quikr also competes in this space through horizontal classifieds.