This Start-up is on an Acquisition Spree to Expand into Southeast Asia’s Used Car Marketplace

Carro has announced the acquisition of Indonesia’s e-classified marketplace, Jualo – as part of the fresh US$30 million funding it raised recently from SoftBank Ventures Asia, and others

By Dipen Pradhan | Aug 06, 2019
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Singapore-based wholesale automotive marketplace, Carro is on an acquisition spree as it plans to expand its operations in Southeast Asia. The startup today announced the acquisition of Indonesia’s e-classified marketplace — Jualo — as part of the fresh US$30 million funding it raised recently from SoftBank Ventures Asia, including EDBI, Dietrich Foundation, NCORE Ventures, and Hanwha Asset Management.

Aaron Tan, CEO and founder of Carro, said the acquisition of Jualo has been completed. “This was done some time ago but we just closed the docs recently and hence the delay in announcing it. But it’s entirely done now,” Tan said. “Our acquisition of Jualo will further boost the reach of our proprietary technology platform in Southeast Asia.”

As part of the acquisition, Carro plans on retaining all key staff of Jualo to continue to stay with the company under the original branding. However, it is uncertain if Carro will continue to service Jualo’s other classified offerings. “No plans for that,” Tan said. “The plan is to focus on cars and motorcycles for now.”

Jualo was last reported to have raised an undisclosed amount in 2016 as part of its ongoing Series A funding round from investors including Susquehanna, Lionrock, and Alpha JWC Ventures.


In pic: CEO and founder of Carro, Aaron Tan

Acquisitions & Expansion

he company plans on making three more acquisitions

Carro is also pushing its subscription-based car service in Indonesia and Thailand as well, which it launched in Singapore in May this year. Carro’s subscription service offers consumers to select cars from any of the four plans — namely daily, roomy, fancy, and luxury — by paying a flat monthly fee that includes all costs associated with car ownership such as insurance, road tax, warranty, maintenance costs, etc.

Southeast Asia’s used car marketplace is heated with a number of startups similar to Carro. There are Indonesia’s BeliMobilGue, Malaysia’s Carsome and iCar Asia, and others. According to Techcrunch, Carro is the best-funded startups by some margin.

Singapore-based wholesale automotive marketplace, Carro is on an acquisition spree as it plans to expand its operations in Southeast Asia. The startup today announced the acquisition of Indonesia’s e-classified marketplace — Jualo — as part of the fresh US$30 million funding it raised recently from SoftBank Ventures Asia, including EDBI, Dietrich Foundation, NCORE Ventures, and Hanwha Asset Management.

Aaron Tan, CEO and founder of Carro, said the acquisition of Jualo has been completed. “This was done some time ago but we just closed the docs recently and hence the delay in announcing it. But it’s entirely done now,” Tan said. “Our acquisition of Jualo will further boost the reach of our proprietary technology platform in Southeast Asia.”

As part of the acquisition, Carro plans on retaining all key staff of Jualo to continue to stay with the company under the original branding. However, it is uncertain if Carro will continue to service Jualo’s other classified offerings. “No plans for that,” Tan said. “The plan is to focus on cars and motorcycles for now.”

Dipen Pradhan

Senior Correspondent, Entrepreneur Asia Pacific
Dipen is a senior correspondent for Entrepreneur, Asia Pacific edition. He joined Entrepreneur after a stint reporting on India's startup ecosystmem for Inc42 and, prior to that, more than four years covering human interest news on an array of issues for The Statesman. He is a graduate in Humanities & Social Sciences, with major in...

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