“Don’t get married to IDEA, get married to CREATION.”- Amit Jain

cardekho

Source: Cardekho  

Cardekho is a leading Indian Tech-based Unicorn Group valued at $1.2 billion, digitalizing the automotive industry, insurance and financial market, startup economy and many more. The minds of Tech-enthusiast Jain brothers have led them to a journey of innovations in India as well as in the world, with first launch from garage of Jaipur to an Unicorn group of various innovative technology brands in diversified sectors.    

Amit Jain: Co-founder & CEO of cardekho

amit jain

Source: The Financial Express

Amit Jain is an IT-enthusiast entrepreneur and investor from Jaipur. After completing his graduation from IIT- Delhi, he worked as a Software Engineer in TCS and further as a Product Manager in Trilogy. He started his entrepreneurial journey with GirnarSoft from its garage in 2007. As an entrepreneur, he has converted many opportunities and problems into an innovative startup, further becoming a huge business. He is one of the sharks at Shark Tank India.

Anurag Jain: Co-founder & COO.

anurag jain

Source: Business Today

Anurag holds expertise in various domains like Supply Chain Management, Data Analytics, Product Innovation and many more. After completing his post graduation from IIT- Delhi, he worked at i2 Technologies as Senior Consultant and then at Sabre Holdings as a Senior Research Analyst. He started his entrepreneurial journey by founding GirnarSoft with his brother, which has grown the trust and credibility of its esteemed investors.

History

In 2006, Jain brothers lost their father due to cancer. Hence, they returned to Jaipur from resigning their jobs, to take care of their grandparents. After moving back, they continued their father’s business but closed it, due to no further growth in it. While finding opportunities in Jaipur, they established a software-tech company from their own garage called Girnarsoft: A Software Development and Solutions offering Company in 2007. Today, with 17 years of industry experience, Girnarsoft is working across 125 innovative technologies with over 2500 skilled professionals. 

From Rise of Innovative Ideas to a Unicorn Company

  • 2008-2009: The idea of Cardekho was reflected in the minds of founders, when they attended Auto Expo in Delhi in 2008. They found a gap between the offline and online marketplaces, which does not provide the latest information about the luxury cars. Transforming the problem into opportunity, Jain brothers coded a website in a week providing a catalogue of cars and launched Cardekho. In the same year, for two wheelers Bikedekho was launched. 

Subsequently, Cardekho started offering car reviews, specifications and price comparisons for buyers and sellers. While building the platform for Cardekho, the Jain brothers had to face major challenges like building the right team, regulatory challenges, struggles to maintain partnerships and crack car dealerships. 

However, investing heavily on creating content rather than on marketing, offering reliable and durable services and SEO optimised technology made the Cardekho attract traffic on the website. This strategy is known as PTC- Product, Technology and Content. 

  • 2010-2012: Collegedekho was launched in 2010 to uphold the progress of Higher education by Ruchir Arora, Saurabh Jain and Rohit Shah. Collegedekho is a tech enabled guidance to help more young college aspirants to reach the right college. Today, with 2000+ colleges partnership, Collegedekho has consulted over 1.2 million students. 

In 2012, when Jain brothers were invited to the AutoTrader office in Atlanta, they saw a different online automobile world. From there they got the directions of Cardekho and decided to raise money. 

  • 2013-2015: Truckdekho was launched in 2015 that makes truck-finding the easiest thing to do ever. It owns virtually the most detailed and diversified information repository, leaving not a single trucking action or idea unattained. 
  • 2016-2018: A virtual online portal was launched in 2016 known as Busesdekho. With 18+ brands covered across buses, vans and rickshaws and 190+ models, Busesdekho connects people with trends of industry news and guidance on buses.  

In 2016, Cardekho expanded its market presence by starting OTO.com in Indonesia. OTO is a dedicated portal for automobile enthusiasts providing information for all types of the breed of cars and motorcycles, with a presence in 27 countries.

An insights and intelligence tool named Connecto is used by Cardekho to customize the personalized content according to the user by observing their clicks, cars viewed by the user, time spent by user etc activities that send data signals to the software which provides user based algorithm. This helps Cardekho understand user behaviour and improve sales strategies. 

  • 2019-2021: In 2019, Insurancedekho, an online insurance information provider platform was launched into motor and health insurance. Today, Insurancedekho have expanded the insurance-related services while serving over 50 lac customers and 35k+ claims. 

Zigwheels was later launched in the UAE, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines markets. Zigwheels is the one-stop destination offering rich automotive content, providing valuable information and resources tailored to the automotive landscape.

  • 2022-2025: In 2024, established Rupyy: Digital platform with advanced technology offers guidance and assistance to get 100% paperless financial lending. 

Girnar Vision Fund [GVF] launched in 2024 is an investment commitment for startups in autotech, fintech, fostering innovation and bringing talent in emerging sectors.

Today, Cardekho group is a unicorn valued at $1.2 billion, with brands like BikeDekho, PowerDrift, OTO, Revv and many more. 

Fundings

Google Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Tybourne Capital, Sequoia Capital, HDFC Bank, Ratan Tata, Times Internet to name a few are investors of Cardekho.

“Raise money for SCALE, not for SURVIVAL”- Jain brothers motto.

  • Series: A funding round was locked at $15 million in 2013. 
  • Series: B and Series B1 funding round was raised of $45 million in 2015. 
  • Series: B3 and B4 funding round was locked at $17 million in 2018.
  • Series: C funding round was completed with $110 million in 2019. 
  • Series: D funding round was locked at $70 million in 2019.
  • Series: E funding round was raised of $250 million pre-IPO round in 2021.
  • In 2024, Cardekho SEA succeeded in securing $60 million in its first external funding round.

Growth

In 2021, Cardekho achieved Rs.884 crore revenue. The revenue increased by 81% in 2022 to Rs.1,598 crore. Around Rs.2,331 crore revenue with an increase by 46% from previous year was counted in 2023. In 2024, the consolidated revenue was recorded at Rs.2,250 crore which decreased by 3.48%. 

Acquisitions

  • In 2015, Cardekho acquires Zigwheels which was started by Times Internet with the intent of getting their professional editorial content team which had a background in automobiles.
  • Gaadi.com was also acquired by Cardekho in the same year with intent of getting Umang Kumar’s expertise in used car dealerships and services related to used cars. These two acquisitions made Cardekho more strong in all segments of business. 
  • BuyingIQ was also acquired by Cardekho in 2015.
  • Cardekho purchased an auto content platform of Youtube called Powerdrift.
  • Expanding at global level, Cardekho in 2019 acquired Carmudi in the Philippines to expand its Southeast Asia market.
  • In 2023, Cardekho acquired a controlling stake in Revv- a self drive car rental service provider. 

Future Plans

  • CarDekho will continue to focus on improving unit economics across all their business lines.
  • Implementing more technology leads to innovations across the platforms.
  • Maintaining highest corporate governance standards, focusing on sustainability, and planning for profitability with long term value creation for all their stakeholders are the 3 workstreams, which Cardekho will align with their activities.
  • Cardekho is planning to list the company in 2025. 
  • CarDekho will focus on growth and expansion in the Indian as well as Southeast Asian market.  

Awards and Achievements

  • In 2011, Cardekho won the ‘Best Website of the year in India Award’.
  • Cardekho served over 3.4 crore unique visitors over the first 4 years of its lifetime. 
  • In 2012, Cardekho won the ‘Most Popular Website Award’. 
  • In 2012, Cardekho also won the ‘Best Car Website of the year Award’.
  • In single year 2012, the figures of visitors was recorded at 2.5 crore 
  • In 2014, Cardekho won the ‘Best Website of the year in India Award’. 
  • Cardekho in 2019 established its first ever offline store for buying pre-owned vehicles.
  • In 2021, Cardekho launched its online retailing of pre-owned cars.
  • Atlast, in 2021 Cardekho entered the Unicorn club by raising $250 million.
  • For 3 consecutive years including in 2024, Cardekho won the Great Place to Work achievement.

Key Learnings from Founders

  • Focus on building a great profitable business rather than large valuations and fundings.
  • Dream big, believe in yourself and start your journey. Don’t wait for any opportunity to initiate. 
  • Every single failure will lead to a better startup, so do not be frightened from making a wrong decision.
  • Be persistent and consistent in following your goals and take one step at a time. 
  • Use data-driven practices for long term growth.
  • Focus on building trustworthy and reliable brands. 

Cardekho is bringing technological revolution in diversified segments, with their focus on data driven insights and innovations. The billion dollar group is also promoting startup economies by providing equipments, guidance and financial assistance, nurturing the overall growth and development of the Indian economy. Thus, Cardekho is the perfect example of community building with consumer-centric approach.