CarDekho, run by Girnar Software Pvt., is sharpening focus on its insurance platform InsuranceDekho even as it scales down its asset-heavy used car marketplace to pursue an auction model.
The startup is also planning an initial public offering next financial year, CarDekho co-founder and chief executive Amit Jain said.
CarDekho expects to post Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization)-level profitability by the third quarter of FY2024.
Founded in 2008 by siblings Amit and Anurag Jain, CarDekho ventured into the pre-owned car retail market under the ‘Gaadi’ brand name in 2019, and later launched lending platforms and other verticals. Most of the individual businesses are already profitable, while it expects to add investments in others to make them grow faster.
CarDekho also ventured into overseas markets such as Indonesia and expects an annual revenue rate of up to $26 million from Southeast Asia.
However, the Sequoia Capital-backed firm, closed many retail stores in India since last year due to thin margins in the used marketplace business.
“Globally, most of the used car marketplace models have collapsed. We also evaluated our own models on where it’s going to generate a profit pool. So, we’re now pursuing auction business where we buy cars from customers and auction them to the dealers,” Amit Jain said
by Peter Sonner
