Droom, an online automobile marketplace has today announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by Singapore’s Beenext and Japanese incubator and venture capital firm Digital Garage.
Apart from Beenext and Digital Garage, existing investors – Lightbox Ventures and Beenos have also participated in the latest round along with new institutional investors from China and Japan.
While the company has not disclosed the amount of money raised in this Series B round, earlier reports suggest that the company was looking to raise around $30 million.
The newly infused funding will be deployed by the company for its planned expansion into southeast Asia later this year apart from strengthening its platform and presence in India.
After strengthening its position in the Indian market, it plans to foray into overseas market by November of this year. Its targeted market in the overseas expansion includes Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Droom was founded in April 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal. It claims to be India’s first online marketplace to buy and sell new and used automobiles and automobile services.
It is noteworthy that Droom is the first entrepreneurial venture of Sandeep Aggarwal since he had to step down as CEO of Shopclues after the debacle of insider trading case involving one of the world’s largest hedge fund SAC Capital and its billionaire founder Steve Cohen.
Last year, the company had raised $15.7 million in funding round which witnessed participation of Lightbox Ventures and Japanese internet firm Beenos. In total, the company has raised $18 million in three funding round.
Earlier this year, the company had launched a new service called ECO – a mobile-based auto inspection solution, in partnership with Carnation Auto. Droom’s partnership with Carnation Auto allows the users of ECO mobile app to access Carnation’s extensive network of workshops and skilled technicians.
Droom continues to face a stiff challenge from CarDekho, which post its Zigwheels acquisition, virtually became the leader in this segment.
