Yesterday CarPrice.ru, a major Russian online broker of used car, announced that it raised $40 million in a Series B funding round – a considerable amount in the context of contraction of the Russian venture market. The round was led by Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund V with the participation of Almaz Capital and other unnamed investors. No details of the transaction have been disclosed.
Coming just one year after site launch, the funding will be used to expand further CarPrice’s business in new Russian regions, and increase car stock.
“We also consider expansion to such new markets as Europe, Asia and South America,” the CarPrise press service told East-West Digital News.
CarPrice provides car buyers with free online valuation in a matter of seconds. Its online bidding process involves more than 1,000 dealers from across Russia. After these dealers determine the best competitive price and complete the auction, the sellers receive payment in CarPrice outlets.
CarPrice.ru has asserted itself as a major online broker and auctioneer for second-hand cars with more than 20 locations including Moscow, St. Petersburg and the regions. It claims to have become a top five Russian used car seller. Helped by the recently a collapse of the new car market, CarPrice intends to increase total monthly auctions from 4,000 currently to 10,000 until the end of 2015.
CarPrice has been the first Russian company to develop such a C2B business model, which is similar to that of We Buy Any Car in the UK.
“We have no direct local competitors since our model differs from [classifieds sites] auto.ru or avito.ru,” the company’s press service told East-West Digital News.
“Our technology has revolutionized the traditional used car market. In developing a credible alternative to traditional channels such as classifieds, we have increased significantly the share of secondary deals in total second-hand car transactions,” said CarPrice’s co-founder and CEO Eduard Gurinovich.
CarPrice was co-founded in June 2014 by Gurinovich and Oskar Hartmann, the German entrepreneur who successfully launched KupiVip.ru in 2008, with the participation of Alexander Danilov and Artem Bolshakov.
After receiving seed-stage funding from Hartmann ad Fastlane Ventures, a Moscow-based startup incubator, CarPrise raised $2 million from Almaz Capital, Fastlane Ventures, e.ventures and other funds in October 2014.
