Carro Could Give Singapore’s NASDAQ-SGX Bridge Its First Real Test

Singapore-based automotive platform Carro is considering a dual NASDAQ-Singapore Exchange listing that could raise $400-500 Mn, potentially making it the first company to test a new cross-border framework designed to give growth companies access to investors in both markets.

The SoftBank-backed company has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US and recently submitted paperwork for a Singapore listing, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The publication said Carro is targeting a dual listing later this year or in the first half of 2027, although it could drop the Singapore leg depending on investor demand. Entrepreneur APAC could not independently verify those details.

That uncertainty makes Carro potentially significant for Singapore’s capital market. The city-state’s Global Listing Board, which came into effect on June 29, creates a co-ordinated route for companies to list simultaneously on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and SGX, instead of forcing a technology company seeking deeper US liquidity to choose between its home market and the US.

What the Singapore Tranche Demands

The Singapore portion cannot be merely symbolic. An issuer needs a post-offer market capitalisation of at least S$2 Bn and at least 500 shareholders worldwide, while its primary listing must be on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. At least 15% of the global IPO, or S$75 Mn, whichever is higher, must be allocated to the Singapore tranche.

That makes the proposed structure materially different from simply adding Singapore as another trading venue after a US flotation.

Austin-based chip designer Ambiq Micro, for instance, added an SGX Mainboard listing in July 2026, a year after its July 2025 NYSE debut, giving Asian investors another venue to trade its shares. But the SGX leg was a secondary listing by introduction, with the NYSE remaining Ambiq’s primary market rather than a fresh Singapore fundraising.

Carro, if it proceeds under the new framework, would go further. Part of the IPO itself would have to be raised in Singapore, making the transaction a test of whether a company can tap deep institutional capital in the US while still directing a meaningful portion of the offering towards investors closer to home.

That is a route technology companies elsewhere in Asia rarely practise.

How India Compares

Despite its much larger domestic equity market, India has yet to develop a comparable flow of contemporary technology companies simultaneously tapping an onshore exchange and NASDAQ or the NYSE. Its newer direct-listing framework permits Indian companies to list shares on exchanges in GIFT IFSC, but such cross-border listings remain uncommon.

Indian companies such as Dr Reddy’s Laboratories have long had access to U.S. investors through American depositary receipts. But that is a different structure from Singapore’s attempt to institutionalise simultaneous IPO fundraising across NASDAQ and the home exchange.

The difference matters because Singapore’s challenge has never simply been producing technology companies. It has been keeping enough of their capital-market activity at home once they become large enough to seek global investors.

The NASDAQ partnership attempts to address this by reducing regulatory and procedural friction around dual listings. SGX RegCo has aligned its approval timeline with NASDAQ’s. Together with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), it has committed to working with NASDAQ and the US Securities and Exchange Commission on regulatory co-ordination, while MAS has introduced the legislative framework needed for Global Listing Board offerings. The more difficult question is whether regulatory access to two exchanges will translate into meaningful liquidity on both.

Ben Mathias, managing partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, had earlier cautioned that companies at the $100-200 Mn scale that can find a public market in India may struggle to attract comparable investor traction in the US, where larger issuers tend to command greater attention. For such companies, India’s domestic market can offer a deeper and more relevant investor pool. He viewed dual listings, including the possibility of an Indian company trading in both India and Singapore, as feasible if SEBI permits such structures. But it will still depend on sufficient liquidity and investor demand on both sides.

Carro could provide an early answer.

The Numbers Behind the Listing

The company already has the scale to clear the Global Listing Board’s financial eligibility tests. Carro reported S$1.2 Bn, or about $898 Mn in FY25 revenue, up 15% from the previous year. Gross profit rose 20% to S$149 Mn, while gross margin improved to 12.4% from 11.8%.

EBITDA was S$43 Mn, or $32 Mn, unchanged from FY2024. That distinction matters because Reuters reported in 2025 that Carro was projected to reach around $100 Mn in annual EBITDA in the fiscal year ending March 2026. Chief executive Aaron Tan subsequently said he would list only when he had visibility on EBITDA of $120-150 Mn in the following year. Carro has not publicly disclosed audited FY26 EBITDA, so those figures remain targets rather than reported achievements.

Its operating footprint, however, has continued to expand. Carro said this month that it transacted more than 120,000 new and used vehicles in FY26 and now operates across eight markets, spanning Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.

It has also moved well beyond the used-car marketplace that built its early profile. The group now combines vehicle retail and wholesale operations with financing through Genie Financial Services, insurance, aftersales services and other automotive businesses.

That ecosystem is increasingly important to its economics. Genie’s consumer loan book grew 35% to S$670 Mn in FY25, while Carro said non-performing loans remained below 0.5%. Financing, insurance and other ancillary businesses accounted for more than half of the group’s gross profit.

Carro has also widened its investor base ahead of a potential IPO. It became a unicorn after a $360 Mn Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in 2021 and has since attracted investors and strategic partners including Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Woori Venture Partners and Japan’s Cool Japan Fund. Japanese consumer finance group Orient Corporation made an undisclosed strategic investment this month.

Reuters reported last year that Carro was targeting a valuation of more than $3 Bn in a US IPO. The current reported $400-500 Mn fundraising does not establish a new valuation, however, and the confidential nature of the US filing means details, including the proposed ownership structure, have not been made public.

What Singapore Needs From Carro

For Singapore, that leaves a bigger question than what valuation Carro eventually secures.

The Global Listing Board is an attempt to change the trade-off facing homegrown technology companies as they mature. Instead of choosing between the international investor depth of the US and continued participation in Singapore’s capital market, qualifying companies are being offered a route to both.

Ambiq has already shown that a US-listed technology company can add Singapore as a second trading venue. Carro could test something harder. It’s about whether investors will commit enough fresh capital in Singapore to make a genuine two-market IPO work.

If it does, Singapore could have a template for keeping a meaningful part of future technology listings at home even when companies look to NASDAQ for global scale. If Carro ultimately decides that demand does not justify the Singapore tranche, the regulatory bridge will still exist, but the harder question of liquidity will remain unanswered.