Droom has recently raised a Series B funding of Rs. 200 crore led by Singapore-based investor Beenext and Japanese incubator and venture capital firm Digital Garage. The amount raised for the new round of funding is significantly higher than the Series A, Droom raised in July 2015.
Country’s online automobile transactional marketplace now targets further to strengthen its position in the online automobile market in India. Present in 142 cities currently, Droom has the largest reach in the hyper-local category in India. As per reports, the deal is believed to have valued Droom at between $210 million and $240 million.
Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Droom, said, “We have been witnessing tremendous growth over the past 16 months in terms of adoption by sellers, a number of categories and listings, geographical presence in 142 cities across in India, and GMV/transactions. Droom is permanently changing how automobiles should be bought and sold online by creating tools for the 21st century for trust, transparency, pricing and convenience.”
The company further wants to see an infusion of funds towards marketing, business development, customer acquisition (operations) and new category expansions.
According to Aggarwal, Droom has 47,000 B2C sellers on board and 55,000 listings. It is targeting gross merchandise sales of $10 billion by 2020. Its annual GMV at the end of April was at $160 million.
“Unlike US, Western Europe, and Japan, India is a lotus market. India in 2010 had created 3 billion dollars in internet wealth. It reached 35 billion in 2015, and I estimate it to reach 250 billion dollars by 2020. I see this digital revolution as the biggest opportunity to turn wealth into social transformation,” said Aggarwal.
This transaction comes at a time when mid-to-late stage funding in India is slipping into severe stress forcing their portfolio companies to cut down their burn rates, trim their flab, and renew their focus on bottom-lines. According to VCCEdge data, the first quarter of the current calendar year has seen an 80% fall in venture capital funding in value terms, as compared to the year ago.
Teruhide Sato, the managing partner of Beenext and founder of Beenos, said, “Droom has swiftly established its leadership position in the premium digital marketplace to buy and sell automobiles in India. Sandeep is an exceptional founder and his vision, grip on marketplaces and ability to drive innovations are second to none.”
Droom has seen over 2.47 million app downloads, 47,000 B2C sellers, 24,000 products, over 57,000 listings, and Rs 2,326 crore in listed GMV. An Owler listing also states that the company clocked Rs 36 crores in revenue, last December.
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