Business
Carro Enters Australia With CarPlace Acquisition, its eighth market
Singaporean online car marketplace Carro has expanded into Australia with the acquisition of used-car platform, CarPlace. It gives Carro operations in three of Australia's four biggest car markets, Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria. The platform's existing operator Autoleague will retain a minority stake in the business, whilst also acting as a strategic shareholder in Carro. In addition to its wholesale expansion in Australia, the company says it intends to apply the technology across vehicle checks, stock tracking and customer experience.
Carro, an online car marketplace headquartered in Singapore, has acquired Australian-based used-car platform CarPlace, and made its debut in Australia.
With this acquisition, Carro now has a presence in 8 markets. Hiscocks’ company had previously been considering merger and acquisition options to come into Australia before any potential dual listing.
Deal Gives Carro a Boost in Key Australian Markets
The acquisition provides Carro with operations in Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria which represents three of the four largest car markets in Australia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CarPlace is part of Autoleague, one of the largest automotive groups in Australia. Autoleague will stay as a strategic shareholder for CarPlace and also be a new strategic investor for Carro.
Our Business is Expanding in Australia
Carro also said it intends to use its technology to streamline vehicle inspections, stock tracking, leads and dealer networks in Australia as well as bolster the customer experience.
Aaron Tan, co-founder and CEO for Carro said Australia represented one of the biggest used-car sectors in the Asia-Pacific region with 2.3 million second-hand cars sold each year and like global markets with EV demand growing.
The company will also pursue the wholesale channel within Australia, including the importation of vehicles from Japan.
Founded in 2015, Carro has raised over S$700 million from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund and a number of sovereign funds. More than 4,500 people are currently employed by the company around their operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and now Australia.
Source: Reuters
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