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CARS24, CarDekho, Spinny said to plan IPOs amid used-car overdrive
CARS24, CarDekho and Spinny are assessing restructuring that's necessary for their businesses to be ready for an IPO in 12-18 months time, Bloomberg reports.
Some of India’s biggest used cars online platforms are looking to drive on Mumbai’s Dalal Street, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, in IPOs that could raise a total of $1 billion.
CARS24 Services Pvt. Ltd., CarDekho and Spinny are in early talks with bankers to assess investor appetite, people in the know told Bloomberg. They are also assessing restructuring requirements necessary for their businesses to be ready for initial share sales. Their IPOs are likely over the next 12-18 months, the people said, adding that the talks are exploratory and none of the startups have hired advisers yet to draft documents.
New-Age IPOs In India
The used-car platforms are looking to cash in on growing investor interest for new-age tech firms that provide local services, amid GST reforms to spur consumption in the world’s fourth largest economy. Just yesterday, rent-a-service platform Urban Company Ltd. listed at a premium of nearly 60%. Eternal Ltd., which operates Zomato and Blinkit, is now a more valuable company than Avenue Supermarts Ltd. (DMart).
Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd., the operator of India’s largest investment platform Groww, has lined up a ₹7,000-crore IPO, even as Lenskart (eyewear), Physics Wallah (edtech) and BoAT (consumer electronics) firm up their plans to follow suit.
Used Car Platforms In India
To be sure, CARS24, CarDekho and Spinny already have a listed peer.
CarWale operator CarTrade Tech Ltd. is the only publicly traded company in this business. Its IPO in 2021 got an overwhelming response with demand hitting 20 times of shares being sold. The company’s stock has surged 63% this year, compared with about 7% gain for Nifty 50.
But all of them need a tune-up before they can hit the road to IPO.
CARS24 has carried out a sweeping overhaul of operations over the past year, slashing hundreds of jobs across its non-core units as well as product and tech teams, Bloomberg reported. The company has also shuttered its spare-parts venture Inspare and car-servicing business FourDoor, to focus on the mainstay used-car marketplace.
CARS24 posted a loss of ₹500 crore in Fiscal 2024, according to data from market research firm Tracxn. The company had raised about $450 million from investors including SoftBank, and Tencent in December 2021 at a valuation of $3.2 billion.
CarDekho, run by Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd., was aiming to file IPO papers in early 2025 but has deferred those plans now, the people said. The company plans to merge its insurance arm, InsuranceDekho, with RenewBuy, according to a VCCircle.
Spinny, officially named Valuedrive Technologies Pvt., has also slowed down expansion and is seeking fresh capital, Bloomberg reported.
Droom has restructured its business to focus on the premium and luxury segments and is looking to refile IPO documents. It has slashed promotional and operating costs after a steep decline in revenues over the last two years, according to Tracxn CEO Neha Singh.
CarDekho declined to comment on the company’s plans. CARS24, Spinny, and Droom did not respond to requests seeking confirmation on their cost cutting and IPO plans.
