5:34 pm, October 1, 2020
Former online only used car dealer Cazoo has raised more money from investors taking the total the start-up has banked to £450m.
Following its recent purchase of Imperial Car Supermarkets – which saw the online retailer switch from delivering cars purely to customer homes to a more traditional physical retailer set-up – the start-up has attracted more cash.
Investors who have previously backed founder Alex Chesterman’s ventures – which include LoveFilm and Zoopla – have piled in with a further £240m.
The latest investment values the start-up at around £2bn.
In its press release, Cazoo says it has achieved revenues of £100m since launching a year ago.
With an average selling price of around £15,000 a car that means it has sold around 6,600 units, or 550 a month, since it launched.
As a comparison, listed motor group Marshall generated £903m from used car sales in 2019 and its shares value the company at £98m, while listed car supermarket Motorpoint clocked up over £1bn in used car sales in its last financial year.
The latest backers of Cazoo include General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and funds managed by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Blackrock.
Other investors included L Catterton, Durable Capital Partners, The Spruce House Partnership, Novator, Mubadala Capital and dmg ventures.
Cazoo says the fundraising round was ‘oversubscribed’.
In a press release, Chesterman said: ‘Over the past few months we have seen an acceleration in the shift from offline to online car buying as UK consumers have continued to embrace our unique and market-leading proposition.
‘This latest funding demonstrates the conviction of some of the world’s best investors in both our business model and team as well as the UK market and gives Cazoo the firepower to deliver on our plans to provide the best possible car buying experience for UK consumers.’
Cazoo currently has 2,185 cars for sale on its website.
Car Dealer recently reported the most stocked dealer group was Arnold Clark with 25,010 models on its books at the end of August.
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