Auto classifieds portal CarWale.com has raised funding of upto $7 million from Sierra Ventures. In 2006, the firm raised funding from Seedfund, diluting about a 30% stake. Mohit Dubey, CEO of CarWale confirmed this development to VC Circle and also added that existing investors were staying put. "They believe in the company," said Dubey. Interestingly, Sierra Ventures is also one of the limited partners in Seedfund.
The funds will be used by CarWale to expand its operations. It plans to expand its sales distribution and increase marketing efforts. Tim Guleri and Vispi Daver of Sierra Ventures will join the company's Board of Directors. Praveen Gandhi of Seedfund also sits on the board.
A lot of people research the prices and other details online before making a decision on buying or selling cars. Carwale cliams to thousands of email inquiries a day. It also offers services like comparison of insurance payments and early month installments for cars.
There are a number of other players in this segment. This include Autoindia.com, Carazoo.com, launched by Bangalore-based software maker Logix Microsystems, Gaadi.com, and Indiaautomobile.com (part of Consim Info of Bharatmatrimony).
November 06, 2008
I purchased my first car through Carwale. The other players you have mentioned are no way near Carwale in terms of availability of used car classifieds. Carwale has a very interesting business model where they have free and paid listings and for paid listings you get to see the poster(seller's) contact details. Till now classified sites were mainly used by the dealers so on a real estate site you will find posting from real estate agents, on job sites majority listings are from recruitment agencies but car wale has a good mix of dealer and individual postings. I remember in their early days they weren't charging anyone to show the seller's contact details. I have been loyal to that site since then and ultimately I purchased a car through one of their paid listings.
Carwale definitely has what is required to grow in this market.