London-based Carwow Group, which includes the Carwow online marketplace, Auto Express, Evo, Driving Electric, and Carbuyer, has raised $52m (£41m) in a new funding round.
Founded in 2013 by James Hind, Alex Margolis, and David Santoro, Carwow says more than 10 million customers have used its tools to buy and sell cars.
Its new funding round was led by global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, a fund known for its investments in tech firms such as LinkedIn and Shopify.
Participation also came from several of Carwow’s existing investors, including Accel, Balderton, Episode 1, and Vitruvian.
Carwow will use the latest investment to scale and expand its SMC (Sell My Car) service in the UK to attract more customers, and source more cars for its dealer partners.
It will also look to introduce the SMC service to its German operation in 2025.
John Veichmanis, CEO of the Carwow Group, said: “Over the course of the last three years, we’ve worked tirelessly to develop our car-changing proposition in the UK, giving consumers access to thousands of partners that can help them buy a new car and sell their old one.
“Our customers love the breadth of choice and convenience of managing every step of their car-changing journey online, and partners rely on us to help drive sales of new cars and source stock.”
Back in 2021, the firm secured $55m from venture debt funding from US firm Hercules Capital.
UKTN has contacted Carwow to clarify whether its latest funding is debt or equity.
In June 2021, the firm acquired Wizzle, an app that helped car dealers appraise and value used cars, to connect online car buyers with more dealers.
Before the acquisition, Carwow had only been able to provide just one offer from a single provider.