India’s largest online automobile marketplace is driving forward with visions to globally expand the car buying and selling sector with a huge investment planned in 2017.
Massive Investment ForDroom
Indian company Droom is accelerating at an impressive speed as CEO Sandeep Aggarwal announced to PTI plans of a $60 million investment for 2017.
He stated the funds raised would be to fuel international expansion and assist the development of new products.
Aggarwal is keen to point out that these funds are not to plug losses in the company. Instead, this money will let Droom “dominate the market share in future with new products and enhanced market share”.
Droom’s Current Presence In The Automobile Market
Starting back in only April 2014, in less than two years, Droom became India’s largest hyperlocal automobile marketplace. Having a presence in 500 cities across the country, it is currently the fifth largest e-commerce company in India with a workforce of just over 200 employees.
Global Expansion
Speaking to PTI, CEO Sandeep Aggarwal declared his desire to raise $60 million this year.
This investment is meant to expand the car buying and selling platform out of India. Droom’s visions for 2017 are to set up operations first in Indonesia followed further by South East Asian countries shortly afterwards.
Where Will The Investment Come From?
Last year Droomraised Rs. 200 Cr from a mixture of Chinese and Japanese investors such as Beenext and Digital Garage. That was the fourth round of fundraising done by Droom. The current round will, therefore, be the fifth and their largest by far to date.
Aggarwal has made recent trips to Hong Kong and China. He is quoted as saying “there has been significant interest from China” and the company also did an “investor day in Hong Kong”.
It has not yet been confirmed where the money is coming from or who the investors might be. But with an estimated revenue of $52.7 million, it is clear to see that Droom is firmly in the driving seat, racing forward which will surely attract some lucrative investors both new and old.
How will this investment impact the revenue?
The massive investment will fuel Droom’s rapid expansion further East in Asia. These foreign enterprises hope to bring Droom 15-20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of their revenue by March 2019. Eventually, the percentage will go up to 30-40{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616}.
Given the amazingly large potential customer base in India, Aggarwal states: “the local Indian market will continue to have the greater share of our revenues in the coming years”.
As well as operating in Indonesia, Droom is also considering a secondary base in the country.
Where Next For This Rapidly Growing Company?
Currently, the company is accelerating at a rate of 350{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} year on year. Compare this to India’s e-commerce growth of 20{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} year on year.
The goal is to achieve $1.2 billion in GMV (gross merchandise value) by the end of March 2018. GMV currently stands at $400 million.
2017 is set to be an exciting year for Droom’s online selling portal. The road ahead certainly looks clear for Droom. And With Sandeep Aggarwal at the wheel, they seem to be continuing this race in pole position.
Keywords/LSI
online automobile marketplace, car buying and selling, hyper-local automobile marketplace, automobile market, car buying and selling platform, online selling portal
References
http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/Business/20170323/3078955.html
