Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Singapore, 14 June 2022 – Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group Inc (Carsome), today announced appointment of its advisory board which comprises a multitude of expertise to lead regional expansion and accelerate growth as the company continues to strengthen leadership in Southeast Asia.

The advisory board is made up of individuals of various specializations, dynamic perspectives and deep expertise who will provide insights, connect networks and share experiences in building and scaling technology companies in the region. The board currently consists of four members, namely Managing Partner & Co-founder of Asia Partners, Nicholas Nash; Founder of Smile Group, Harish Bahl; Managing Partner of Indies Capital, Pandu Sjahrir; and Vice President of Meta Asia Pacific, Dan Neary.

Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng mentioned that the advisory board adds great values to Carsome’s leadership team by elevating decision-making and affirming the company’s next steps on firmer, proven footing. “We are deeply honored by this priceless opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants and work with elites of their respective industries. We are confident that their expertise, experience and network will invaluably help in Carsome’s mission to deliver trust, choice and transparency to our customers across the car transaction and ownership experiences across Southeast Asia,” added Cheng.

Nash was best known for spearheading Greater Southeast Asia’s leading internet company Sea Ltd.’s landmark IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SE), the largest US IPO of a Southeast Asian company. “We are really enthusiastic about Carsome’s successful track record and exponential growth, attributed to the strength of its leadership team and execution rigor. Carsome definitely has the potential to become Southeast Asia’s next big thing, and we are excited to help accelerate the company’s next growth spurt,” said Nash, who is also the Chairman of the advisory board. 

Bahl is a serial entrepreneur with a successful track record in founding and building leading e-commerce and digital media companies across Asia and other emerging markets. He has partnered and built businesses with major companies like Airbnb, Ogilvy, WPP Digital and Yahoo!, among others. “As with the accelerated digitalization in this new normal, Carsome is well-positioned to elevate the used car buying and selling experience through e-commerce. I am very excited to provide counsel and insights to help them stay at the top as Southeast Asia’s leading car e-commerce platform,” commented Bahl.  

Sjahrir, one of Southeast Asia’s leading and most influential investors, serves in multiple organizations to promote entrepreneurship and education in the region. Indies Capital, where he is the Managing Partner, has invested over US$1.1 billion and is a shareholder in more than 100 companies over the last seven years. Sjahrir is currently the Chairman of Indonesia for Sea Ltd. (NYSE: SE) and the Chairman of GoTo Financial, part of GoTo Group which is one of Indonesia’s first unicorn technology companies. “The formation of Carsome’s advisory board underscores the importance and the company’s focus on the Indonesian market. I am happy to guide the Carsome team into accelerating the growth and expansion of its Indonesian market through a multi-pronged approach,” added Sjahrir. 

Neary is one of the most seasoned and influential operators with almost three decades of executive-level experiences in Asia. Having gone through the exciting development in the region in management positions with great companies like eBay, Skype and Meta, Neary has deep expertise in operating and advising technology and e-commerce companies in developing markets. Besides, Neary is also active in the entrepreneurial community. He co-founded Travelmob (acquired by HomeAway) in the early days. He is now an active Limited Partner with a couple of Venture Capital funds, an early-stage investor in over 15 companies. “I am excited about Carsome’s mission of solving the real industry and customer pain points in this unique region. I am happy to help the leadership team with my first-hand experiences and insights in scaling a company across Southeast Asia,” said Neary.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Singapore, 5 May 2022 – Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform, Carsome Group Pte Ltd (Carsome), today announced the acquisition of digital automotive content businesses under brands of WapCar and AutoFun from Tang Internet Limited and its subsidiaries. Upon the completion of the acquisition, Carsome set up WapCar AutoFun Sdn Bhd (WapCar), as a fully-owned subsidiary of the Carsome group in Malaysia.

WapCar established its first flagship brands, WapCar and AutoFun in 2019. Today, it operates a number of automotive content websites and social media channels across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. WapCar provides a full range of content which covers car exploration, transaction, and ownership experiences, using industry-leading technology to help customers in Southeast Asia find their perfect car and immerse themselves in all things related to automotive. The platform also produces, distributes and manages highly-engaging Professionally Generated Content (PGC) and User Generated Content (UGC) at scale. In 2021, the platform distributed on average more than 1,400 article write-ups and 100 videos on a monthly basis across YouTube and TikTok channels, which attract millions of customers across the region. As of last quarter of 2021, WapCar had become one of most visited auto content platforms with over 6 million average Monthly Active Users (MAU).

Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng mentioned that WapCar has built a strong automotive content strategy in Southeast Asia, liked by a large and engaging customer base. The partnership will enable Carsome to capture and serve customers from their early stage of car exploration and bring a more engaging and fun experience to the car transaction and ownership journey. “We are thrilled to announce the partnership with WapCar and a team with seasoned expertise in the content space. We believe our collaboration through content, technology and data will augment our ability to bring trust, transparency and choice to customers together,” Cheng said.

WapCar General Manager Sting Peng mentioned that there is perfect synergy for WapCar to join the Carsome family. “We are excited to work with Carsome to collectively provide a smooth car buying and selling experience to millions of WapCar users on our platform across the region, as well as an end-to-end solution in their car transaction and ownership journey,” Peng added.

The acquisition is an important move that further strengthens Carsome’s market leadership in the region, and reinforces Carsome’s commitment to drive ecosystem expansion. It comes after the company’s recent announcement, acquisition of majority stake in CarTimes Automobile, one of the largest, trusted, award-winning auto companies in Singapore, and the completion of acquisition of iCar Asia, a leading listing and content automotive platform in Southeast Asia.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Singapore, 17 March, 2022 – Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group Pte Ltd (Carsome), today announced the acquisition of 51% stake in CarTimes Automobile Pte Ltd (CarTimes).

Established in 2001, CarTimes is one of the largest and trusted, award-winning auto companies in Singapore, which offers a full suite of auto solutions ranging from new and used car retail, rental, financing, insurance to repair, maintenance and workshops. In alignment with Carsome’s mission of prioritizing customers’ values, CarTimes built its business to ensure every customer can enjoy ultimate peace of mind at every step of the car transaction and ownership journey.

Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng mentioned that CarTimes has built a strong brand in Singapore, trusted by local customers and partners since 2001, through a seamless car transaction process supported through a broad range of ancillary services such as financing and insurance. “We are thrilled to announce the partnership with CarTimes, the team of which has over twenty years of experience in the auto industry. This partnership will enable us to deepen our footprint in the Singapore auto market, and augment our ability in bringing trust, choice and transparency to customers together,” Cheng said.

CarTimes Founder and Managing Director Eddie Loo mentioned that the partnership with Carsome is crucial in assisting them to better serve customers and to provide them with the resources to digitize and improve the two-decade-old relationship that they have with their customers. “We are extremely excited to be able to find a partner who is fully aligned with our core values and is bringing innovation, technology, and regional experience to our team. Having built an automotive ecosystem of services for our customers here in Singapore, we believe that we have managed to convey our vision of providing a peace-of-mind buying experience to our customers,” Loo added.

The acquisition is an important move that further strengthens Carsome’s market leadership in the region, and reinforces Carsome’s commitment to drive ecosystem expansion. It comes after the company’s recent announcement of completing its acquisition of iCar Asia, a leading listing and content automotive platform in Southeast Asia, and the appointment of Digbijoy Shukla as Head of Merger and Acquisition and Ecosystem Strategy.

Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group (Carsome), today announced the acquisition of the remaining 80.1 percent stake in iCar Asia from the Catcha Group and other shareholders of iCar Asia, a leading listings and content automotive platform in Southeast Asia.

Upon the completion of the acquisition, Carsome became the sole shareholder of iCar Asia. Carsome is the market leader in the online used car buying and selling platform across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, while iCar Asia is the leading listings and content automotive platform across the same markets. Carsome and iCar Asia, combined, offer an integrated automotive ecosystem – for dealers to source, advertise and sell cars and for consumers to research, sell and buy cars – in a region that trades over US$55 billion1 worth of automobiles annually.

Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng mentioned that the company has been collaborating with iCar Asia since July 2021. “We are pleased with the smooth completion of this acquisition. This partnership will enable us to further augment our offerings across discovery, consideration, purchase and fulfillment, covering the entire auto ecosystem anchored on our core values of trust, transparency and technology,” Cheng said.

The acquisition is expected to allow Carsome to provide more diversified solutions and experience across the buying and selling value chain to more dealers and consumers in the key markets. The expanded suite of solutions will offer consumers an end-to-end, one-stop experience that covers the entire car ownership journey – from search, transaction, finance and insurance to after-sales services. 

Source: Momentum Works Southeast Asia Used Cars Report 2020