Southeast Asian used car marketplace Carsome is said to be raising $300-400 million at a valuation of about $2 billion for its upcoming IPO on NASDAQ, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday, quoting sources.
Carsome, which is also Malaysia’s first tech unicorn, is said to have confidentially filed for the IPO with NASDAQ. Carsome is also considering a dual listing at the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) too, a move that is said to have been encouraged by one of its key investors Temasek-backed 65 Equity Partners, according to the report.
Carsome has yet to respond to TechNode Global‘s query. One of the earlier investors in Carsome declined to comment.
Carsome will be joining Singapore-headquartered superapp Grab to list on NASDAQ. Other tech unicorns in the region such as GoTo, Bukalapak and PropertyGuru have gone public in the US or the local stock market.
The IPO news also came after Carsome announced in March the acquisition of 51 percent stake in Singapore integrated automotive firm CarTimes Automobile Pte Ltd (CarTimes).
In January, Carsome completed its $290 million Series E round, increasing the company’s valuation to approximately $1.7 billion. The financing round was jointly led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), 65 Equity Partners (65EP) and Seatown Private Capital Master Fund (Seatown). The round also saw strong participation from investors such as Mediatek, Sunway, Gokongwei Group, YTL Group, and Taiwan Mobile.
Carsome has become Malaysia’s first tech unicorn as part of a share-swap deal that take a stake in iCar Asia in July last year.
Founded in 2015, Carsome 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”. It 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.
In Southeast Asia, Carsome competes with Singapore-based Carro, Indonesia’s OLX Auto and Carousell Auto Group.