Malaysia-headquartered used-car trading platform Carsome Group is said to have raised almost $300 million in a financing round led by funds linked to Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Bloomberg reported, quoting people with knowledge of the matter.
65 Equity Partners and SeaTown Holdings Pte Ltd, which are both backed by Temasek, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) are among the investors that participated in the fundraising, the people said.
Carsome, Malaysia’s first tech unicorn, is said to be planning for an initial public offering in the US later this year, one of the people was quoted as saying.
Carsome has yet to respond to TechNode Global‘s query.
In November last year, it was reported that Carsome was seeking to raise about $200 million in a funding round ahead of a potential listing. This came after it announced in September the close of its $170 million Series D2 round of funding. 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. It has expanded into Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
Malaysia unicorn Carsome seeks $200M in pre-IPO funding round – report