SOUTHEAST Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform CARSOME Group Inc has ushered in its seventh anniversary with over 260,000 completed transactions, millions of customers served through its platform and more than 18,000 cars sold per month across core markets.
In January, Forbes reported that Carsome which it dubbed as Malaysia’s first tech unicorn start-up has raised US$290 mil (RM1.29 bil) in a Series E funding round which valued the used-car online marketplace at US$1.7 bil (RM7.57 bil).
Since its establishment in 2015, the Malaysia-founded household brand has successfully penetrated four core markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand – to emerge as the market leader in these countries by 2020 even as the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every industry imaginable.
In fact Carsome’s business outside of Malaysia is expected to contribute up to 40% of group revenue by end-2022, according to co-founder and group CEO Eric Cheng.
“Carsome’s retail business now has become the fastest growing business for the company,” Cheng shared in a seven-year operation review.
“In less than two years, it has successfully delivered more than 10 times growth year-on-year. Today, it’s already contributing to more than 25% of group revenue and is expected to contribute to about half of the group’s revenue in the mid-long term.”
As it expands ‘phygitally’ (physical + digital) across the region, Carsome currently has more than 120 inspection and experience centres across the four markets that are inter-connected by its established regional logistics hubs.
To continue meeting customers’ increasing demand for quality used cars, Carsome has launched the region’s first and largest state-of-the-art refurbishment facility – the Carsome Certified Lab in Malaysia – which has the capacity to re-condition more than 2,000 cars per month.
Onward from this success, Carsome is planning to launch three more similar labs by end-2022 to meet the retail re-conditioning demands (also in Indonesia and Thailand).
Talent development
In its mission to innovate the used car ecosystem, Carsome has also contributed towards the development of a skilled workforce and establishment of a strategic alliance to better serve customers’ needs.
In 2021, the company unveiled the Carsome Academy – a platform designed to offer Malaysian youths technical training and guaranteed career opportunities upon graduation.
Today, the Carsome Academy is accredited as a Recognition of Prior Achievement Centre by the Department of Skill Development under the Human Resources Ministry in its effort to continue offering quality training to support the industry.
This year saw the Carsome Academy expanded to Indonesia and Thailand to further promote the automotive workforce and job opportunities within the region. As of today, the Carsome Academy has provided courses to more than 1,500 students totalling more than 6,000 hours of training.
Together with its strategic alliances which include the acquisitions of three entities – Southeast Asia’s largest online auto classified platform iCar Asia; auto content and social media platform WapCar; and Singapore’s leading car dealership CarTimes – Carsome now manages more than 14 million visitors monthly with a network of over 20,000 dealers.
Earlier in the year, Carsome was part of a consortium led by KAF Investment Bank to become one of first batches of companies in Malaysia to be awarded a digital banking license.
“Despite the current climate of an ongoing global recession, demands for used cars continue to remain resilient in Southeast Asia. At Carsome, we are optimistic about our prospects and believe in a strong growth in this sector for the next five years,” Cheng pointed out.
“Seven years on, we will continue to carry on with our goal of providing our customers with better peace of mind throughout their car transaction and ownership journey.” – Aug 2, 2022
