Carro, a Singapore-based online used car platform, said Tuesday it has received strategic investment from Woori Venture Partners as the firm ramping up expansion plans in Southeast Asia (SEA).

Carro said in a statement that the strategic investment marks Woori’s first late-stage deal in SEA to form the closer partnership.

Via its latest strategic investment from Woori Venture Partners, Carro aims to grow further in its Southeast Asian markets, especially in Indonesia where Woori has a strong presence in.

Cited a study by Mordor Intelligence, Carro highlighted that Indonesia used car market size is estimated at $56.3 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $74.4 billion by 2029.

Bolstered by a robust, growing economy, it opined that more and more Indonesians are primed to be car owners, yet a lack of affordable financing has deterred even upper class households from owning cars.

In the last 12 months, Carro expanded its geographic presence to seven markets, out of Southeast Asia to Hong Kong and Japan.

“It’s always been a priority for Carro to build powerful partnerships with banks and financial institutions,

“Receiving a strategic investment from Woori Venture Partners, a venture capital subsidiary of Woori Financial Holdings – a storied Korean financial institution – is a ringing endorsement of our ecosystem-led and complementary fintech business model,” Ernest Chew, Chief Financial Officer of Carro

“We look forward to working with Woori to plug the gaps in the market, serve the underserved better and drive financial inclusion,” he added.

Meanwhile, Carro is ending the year (FY2024) strong, having achieved an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of S$43 million ($32 million) and a 4 percent EBITDA margin.

The firm FY2024’s gross profit margin (GPM) expanded to 12 percent, shored up by a combination of strong marketplace margin expansion, ecosystem-led ancillary income growth, and productivity optimization.

Carro’s fintech business, Genie Financial Services, recorded prudent growth across the region and kept non-performing loans (NPL) at below 0.5 percent. The firm’s overall loan book grew to S$496 milion ($370 million).

“These numbers underscore the unique differentiated benefits of our ecosystem-led business operating model, as we focus on driving marketplace margin expansion by cross-selling ancillaries to drive recurring income streams,

“Even as we grow our volumes at double digit percentage to a record, we have and will continue to be laser focused on improving profitability, customer lifetime value across our ecosystem, inventory turnaround speed and productivity,” said Aaron Tan, Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Carro.

According to him, this means building and leveraging more data and technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

“We are better placed than ever to scale sustainably and profitably in our core markets and are very excited to grow our newest markets: Hong Kong and Japan,

“We are still small in an enormous but fragmented market, there is significant room for growth as we build our business for scalability and sustainability,” he added.

Chew also said the firm has over-delivered on its initial target of a 10 times EBITDA growth.

“Despite a challenging macro-environment, we achieved significantly improved margins across most profitability metrics last year,” he noted.

According to him, the firm’s focus on quality of revenues and recurring earnings have resulted in a 92 percent reduction in reported operating loss and within a striking distance of positive operating profits.

“Even as our cash from operating activities swung to positive, we continue to be extremely vigilant on liquidity and have built up a war chest of over S$400 million ($298 million) in cash and undrawn lines,

“We have also been disciplined around managing down costs, improving efficiencies and pushing digital transformations to drive strong earnings growth,” he added.

It is noted that in a year marked by partnerships, Carro received strategic investments from Jardines and launched “Carro Care Powered by Jardine & Cycle”, its in-house refurbishment and after-sales servicing capabilities.

The firm received a strategic investment from DRB-Hicom to support its Malaysian fintech business, which has seen solid growth.

Carro also strengthened its insure tech offerings by working with ZA Tech to distribute highly personalized self-serve insurance products online, leading to an explosive gross written premium growth of over 60 percent.

“Carro is the clear leader in a space that is prime for disruption, with significant room for expansive growth. Their ability to grow profitably at scale is testament to their performance and commitment,” said Alan Ang, Director of Woori Venture Partners.

“Woori Venture Partners continues to be a global venture capital leader by backing outstanding founders and sustainable businesses anywhere in the world with our investment in Carro,

“We are very pleased to be a strategic partner of Carro and help Carro reach its next stage of growth,” he added.

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