7:16 am, July 14, 2024
The Carwow Group has raised $52m to speed up its growth across the UK, Germany and Spain.
The funding round for the group – which includes online marketplace Auto Express, Evo, Driving Electric and Carbuyer – is equal to some £41m and was led by global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners.
Existing investors in Carwow, including Accel, Balderton, Episode 1 and Vitruvian, have joined Bessemer in ploughing the millions into the group. Bessemer’s investment portfolio includes tech outfits LinkedIn and Shopify.
Carwow says the cash injection will supercharge its strategic growth plans as it looks to become the online car-changing marketplace.
The plans include expanding its Sell My Car (SMC) service further in the UK to attract more customers and find more cars for its dealer partners.
Specific focus will be given to enhancing payment processes and developing its transport offering. Carwow will also look to introduce the SMC service to its German operation next year.
Carwow Group CEO John Veichmanis said: ‘This is yet another milestone moment for Carwow.
‘Over the course of the last three years, we’ve worked tirelessly to develop our car-changing proposition in the UK, giving consumers access to thousands of partners that can help them buy a new car and sell their old one.
Carwow Group CEO John Veichmanis has hailed the $52m investment as ‘another milestone moment’ for the company
‘Our customers love the breadth of choice and convenience of managing every step of their car-changing journey online, and partners rely on us to help drive sales of new cars and source stock.
‘Given the phenomenal reaction to our strategic blueprint in the UK, we’re excited to use this new funding to take our proposition to our existing businesses in Germany and Spain.
‘We’ll also continue to invest in new technologies to help our partners seamlessly appraise, buy and collect cars directly from the millions that use Carwow every month.’
Bessemer Venture Partners partner Alex Ferrara added: ‘I’ve been a fan of Carwow’s videos and content for years and, like millions of others, I love their information-rich, impartial car reviews and drag races that make for fun and irreverent entertainment.
‘Carwow’s consumer proposition is just as exciting, which is helping make car changing simpler for consumers across Europe.
‘With over nine million car changes a year alone in the UK, we’re looking forward to supporting the management team in growing the business and delivering on its true potential.
‘Carwow’s focus on using its content expertise and footprint to drive its commerce services through dealer partnerships makes it unique and compelling in the category.’
Carwow was co-founded by James Hind, Alexandra Margolis and David Santoro in 2011 and launched in May 2013.
Since then, more than 10m customers have used it, and last year nearly £3bn-worth of cars were bought via the platform, while £1.8bn of cars were listed for sale through its SMC service.
It uses the reverse marketplace model, whereby users choose the car they want, along with the specifications and features, and then receive offers directly from dealers, removing the need to negotiate with traders.
Carwow says its revenue rose by 56% during the first half of 2024, although it didn’t give precise figures. It added that it’ll expand its product and engineering teams for the next growth phase.
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