Carousell is getting serious about making money, acquires used-car app

Photo credit: Carousell.

You probably already know that you can even find cars on Carousell these days. And if you didn’t know: hey, you can even find cars on Carousell these days. The Singapore-based peer-to-peer marketplace noticed that more people were looking to sell and buy cars on the site and decided to step up its offerings in that department.

That’s why the company announced today it has acquired Singaporean mobile-first used car marketplace and dealership tool Caarly. The terms of the deal are undisclosed. The Caarly team will join Carousell in its entirety and its product will continue as normal.

Carousell also appointed former PropertyGuru managing director Winnie Khoo as general manager for Singapore and Malaysia, and Rakesh Malani, formerly of Indian adtech firm Komli Media, as CFO.

Carousell plans to start rolling out used car listings from dealers in Singapore and eventually into its other markets.

Taking Caarly into the fold will help Carousell improve its used car classifieds and bring car dealerships onto its platform.

“Carousell has grown over the last [four and a half] years, and so have our users,” says Carousell co-founder and CEO Siu Rui Quek in a statement. “Over 50 percent of them in Singapore are now over 25 years old and have significantly more purchasing power. We’ve seen how their evolving needs have resulted in more listings and greater demand in higher value verticals like cars.”

The startup plans to start rolling out used car listings from dealers in Singapore and eventually into its other markets. Its platform is currently available in 14 cities.

“Caarly has developed amazing relationships in the used car dealership space,” Rakesh tells Tech in Asia. “The [Carousell and Caarly] teams are going to be working closely together, but the way that Caarly works with dealers isn’t going to change.”

Carousell doesn’t reveal any user numbers, saying only that it hosts over 41 million listings. It previously acquired personal safety app Watch Over Me in order to take its talent aboard – what is known as an “acqui-hire.”

The startup raised US$35 million in August in a series B round led by Rakuten Ventures. The round also included Sequoia India, Golden Gate Ventures, and 500 Startups.

Carousell’s founding team. Photo credit: Carousell.

Time to bring home the bacon

Bringing in merchants next to individual sellers on Carousell’s platform may not sit right with some – especially since Siu Rui said he was wary of diluting the marketplace’s community aspect. However, as Carousell’s users are no doubt discovering in their own maturing lives, part of growing up involves addressing the perennial puzzle of how to make money.

“We are keen to take the company down the monetization path,” Rakesh says. He adds that his presence will allow the rest of the management to focus on further building the product and the business.

We are keen to take Carousell down the monetization path.

The challenge of making money from a service that has built up a sizeable community on a free-to-use basis is not insignificant, particularly with Carousell facing competition from similar services like Shopee.

Rakesh is hopeful that the platform’s network effect and ubiquity will allow for monetization opportunities.

“When you have such an engaged user base, there are many [ways to monetize]. Premium listings is one of the easiest ones,” he says by way of example. “Some users might want the convenience of having a listing appear higher or more prominently.” That doesn’t mean that all users need to worry about paying to use the platform, he explains.

When asked whether solutions like this or having merchants on the app could alienate long-time sellers, Rakesh says that the team is constantly keeping an eye on what its audience is asking. And not all of Carousell’s markets are at the same stage in their life. “We are sensitive to what tools we roll out to which market, and when,” he notes. Singapore is a mature market for Carousell, which gives the company some leeway to try new things.

This post Carousell is getting serious about making money, acquires used-car app appeared first on Tech in Asia.

from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/carousell-caarly-acquisition
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