Malaysia-headquartered used car trading platform Carsome is seeking to raise about $200 million in a funding round ahead of a potential listing in the US next year, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The Malaysia’s first tech unicorn is working with an adviser for the planned fundraising and aims to complete it as soon as in the coming weeks, said the people, the newswire reported.
Deliberations are ongoing and the funding size and timing could change, the people reportedly said.
Carsome has yet to respond to TechNode Global‘s query on the matter.
Carsome, which also has a presence in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, announced the close of its $170 million Series D2 round of funding in September. The company said the funding round then has brought the company’s valuation to $1.3 billion, cementing its position as Malaysia’s largest tech unicorn.
Founded in 2015, Carsome transacts more than 100,000 cars on an annualized basis, which translates to around $1 billion in revenue.
The company provides end-to-end solutions to consumers and used car dealers, from car inspection to ownership transfer to financing, promising a service that is trusted, convenient and efficient. Carsome currently transacts around 100,000 cars annually and has more than 1,700 employees across all its offices.
Carsome announced in July it plans to acquire listings and content automotive platform iCar Asia to create the largest automotive marketplace in Southeast Asia. The deal also turned Carsome into Malaysia’s first tech unicorn.
Bloomberg reported in June that Carsome is working with advisers and is seeking a valuation of about $2 billion in a listing, which could be a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) or a conventional IPO.
Malaysia’s Carsome raises $200M in financing round, valuation hits $1.3B