Southeast Asia’s used car e-commerce platform Carsome Group announced on Thursday the acquisition of digital automotive content businesses under brands of WapCar and AutoFun from Tang Internet Ltd and its subsidiaries.
Upon the completion of the acquisition, Carsome set up WapCar AutoFun Sdn Bhd (WapCar), as a fully-owned subsidiary of the Carsome group in Malaysia.
Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng said that WapCar has built a strong automotive content strategy in Southeast Asia, liked by a large and engaging customer base. The partnership will enable Carsome to capture and serve customers from their early stage of car exploration and bring a more engaging and fun experience to the car transaction and ownership journey.
“We believe our collaboration through content, technology and data will augment our ability to bring trust, transparency and choice to customers together,” Cheng said in a statement.
WapCar established its first flagship brands, WapCar and AutoFun in 2019. Today, it operates a number of automotive content websites and social media channels across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam.
WapCar provides a full range of content which covers car exploration, transaction, and ownership experiences, using industry-leading technology to help customers in Southeast Asia find their perfect car and immerse themselves in all things related to automotive.
The platform also produces, distributes, and manages highly-engaging Professionally Generated Content (PGC) and User Generated Content (UGC) at scale. In 2021, the platform distributed on average more than 1,400 article write-ups and 100 videos on a monthly basis across YouTube and TikTok channels, which attract millions of customers across the region. As of last quarter of 2021, WapCar had become one of the most visited auto content platforms with over 6 million average Monthly Active Users (MAU).
“We are excited to work with Carsome to collectively provide a smooth car buying and selling experience to millions of WapCar users on our platform across the region, as well as an end-to-end solution in their car transaction and ownership journey,” WapCar General Manager Sting Peng said.
Carsome said the acquisition is an important move that further strengthens Carsome’s market leadership in the region, and reinforces its commitment to drive ecosystem expansion.
The acquisition also comes after the company’s acquisition of a majority stake in CarTimes Automobile in Singapore in March, and the completion of acquisition of iCar Asia, a listing and content automotive platform in Southeast Asia.
Last month, DealStreetAsia reported that Carsome is raising $300-400 million at a valuation of about $2 billion for its upcoming IPO on NASDAQ. Carsome is said to be considering a dual listing at the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX).
Carsome is also part of the KAF Investment Bank-led consortium which was recently awarded a digital banking license in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s Carsome to list on NASDAQ at $2B valuation – report