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<p style="text-align: justify;">In a strategic deal, <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/carousell"><strong>Carousell</strong></a></span>, a classifieds marketplace operating in the mobile/social commerce space, has acquired <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://caarly.com" target="_blank"><strong>Caarly</strong></a></span>, which operates in the automobile vertical.</p></article>

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<p style="text-align: justify;">In a strategic deal, <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/carousell"><strong>Carousell</strong></a></span>, a classifieds marketplace operating in the mobile/social commerce space, has acquired <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://caarly.com" target="_blank"><strong>Caarly</strong></a></span>, which operates in the automobile vertical.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Caarly facilitates online trading of cars, enabling car dealers and individual sellers to use a smartphone app to take photos and list their cars on its marketplace. Launched in 2014, Caarly has positioned itself as a mobile-first productivity tool that allows used car dealerships to manage their inventory. Caarly claims to have enterprise partnerships with over 200 car dealers in the city-state.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“Carousell has grown over the last 4.5 years, and so have our users. Over 50% of them in Singapore are now over 25 years old, and have significantly more purchasing power. We’ve seen how their evolving needs have resulted in more listings and greater demand in higher value verticals like cars,” said <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/in/siurui" target="_blank"><strong>Siu Rui Quek</strong></a></span>, Co-founder and CEO of Carousell.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Quek adds, &#8220;This acquisition allows us to tap on Caarly’s relationships with dealers, to give users the widest selection of cars on a classifieds marketplace beginning in Singapore and throughout APAC soon after. This acquisition makes Carousell the best place for users to find exactly what they need when they’re looking for a new or pre-loved car, and also paves the way for our monetization strategy as high value verticals will be a key revenue driver for us.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Existing Caarly partners can continue to use the Caarly platform to list their inventory with a simple one-tap post to cross post to the cars category on the Carousell marketplace.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Acquisition details</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">When asked about whether Caarly would be maintained as a separate brand post-acquisition, new CFO <span style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/in/rakeshmalani" target="_blank"><strong>Rakesh Malani</strong></a></span> told <strong>DEALSTREETASIA</strong>: &#8220;The platforms are going to talk to each other and become seamlessly integrated, and the teams will have to work really closely together. The inventory management tool that Caarly will sell to their dealers will remain the focus for the them and on the Carousell end, we would be focused on giving our users an amazing experience.&#8221;</p>
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<p>He continued: &#8220;Together with the Caarly team, we are working towards a common future and better placed to grow the largest mobile classifieds marketplace in the world. This acquisition allows us to tap on Caarly’s relationships with car dealers, to give users the widest selection of both new and pre-used cars on a classifieds marketplace beginning in Singapore and throughout APAC soon after.&#8221;</p>
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<p>When asked for a rough estimate of the consideration that Carousell paid to acquire Caarly, given that the e-commece firm has raised $41.8 million in equity financing to date, with the last round led by Rakuten Ventures, Malani told <strong>DEALSTREETASIA</strong>: &#8220;This is a little tricky for us to share. What I can share is that this is very exciting for us to get the Caarly team to work with us, and on the Caarly team to be working and bringing on this opportunity to their customers and it is something that we absolutely believe will massively benefit our users and their dealers.&#8221;</p>
<p>He continues: &#8220;This acquisition is creating a lot of excitement both internally and externally in the community. We believe that the focus should be on the talented individuals joining our product and engineering team, and how this fits in with our overall business strategy, instead of the financial terms of the agreement.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that the Caarly team is &#8220;product-focused, has great engineering expertise, and shares our desire to use technology to solve problems at scale, and making a positive impact,&#8221; Malani opined that when combined with their domain expertise, this would strengthen their position in the cars category.</p>
<h3>New hires</h3>
<p>Beyond just the addition of Malani, who previously served as the Global CFO and HR Head of ad-tech company Komli Media. In an official statement, Malani said, “Carousell provides me with an absolutely blank canvas from a finance perspective. While the company has grown exponentially the last 4.5 years and raised US$35M Series B earlier in the year, there’s so much potential to build the finance function in the business.&#8221;</p>
<p>This latest acquisition suggests that he will be executing an aggressive capital strategy to help Carousell strengthen its position as a global classifieds leader, by deepening its reach in high value verticals starting with cars. He’ll also play a key role in developing the company’s growth and monetisation plans.</p>
<p>Carousell has also hired <span style="color: #000080;"><strong style="color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/in/khoowinnie" target="_blank">Winnie Khoo</a> as </strong></span>General Manager for Singapore and Malaysia. Khoo will be leading the charge to fully integrate the Caarly team into the Carousell platform. She was formerly a managing director of <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreeetasia.com/tag/propertyguru" target="_blank"><strong>PropertyGuru</strong></a></span> and has worked for the likes of <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: #000080;"><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/alibaba-group" target="_blank"><strong>Alibaba Group</strong></a></span>, with a focus on growing and launching new businesses.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Khoo said, “What began as a simple conversation to include used-car dealers inventory onto the Carousell marketplace allowed us to realise the potential to make a bigger impact for our community. With the widest selection of cars, Carousell will become the go-to for anyone looking to purchase their next car. Together with the Caarly team, we are now even better placed to grow the largest mobile classifieds platform in the world”.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Edited excerpts from interview with CFO Rakesh Malani:</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>How does this specific acquisition gel with the Watch Over Me acquisition? What is the specific M&amp;A strategy for Carousell and which are the target sectors?</strong></p>
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<p>Our Series B funding allows us to be laser focused on accelerating our growth into new markets, bolstering our product and engineering teams, and strengthening our position as one of the largest and fastest growing mobile classifieds marketplaces.</p>
<p>M&amp;As are opportunistic if they fit into our overall business strategy. In my new role, in addition to helping finalise the Caarly deal, I’ve been given the charge to oversee our financial planning and strategies for long term growth and monetization.</p>
<p>As a tech startup, it’s important to have a talented product and engineering team that understands the problems our users face, and knows how to use the latest technology to develop solutions that are elegantly simple and useful.</p>
<p>Acquihires like WatchOverMe and Caarly give us access to teams with great experience, particularly in building a product with trust &amp; safety, and location features, all essential to building an engaged, global community.</p>
<p>The skills, expertise and new ideas from both the Caarly and WatchOverMe teams will help to boost our product and engineering capability, and accelerate our growth into new markets. We’re always looking out for talented people and teams to join the Carousell family, and we’re keen to meet individuals or teams who can help us use machine learning, data science and AI to improve discoverability and overall community engagement.</p>
<p><strong>Is Carousell currently discussing any further acquisitions or funding rounds?</strong></p>
<p>The Series B funding allows us to be laser focused on accelerating our growth into new markets, bolstering our product and engineering teams, and strengthening our position as one of the largest and fastest growing mobile classifieds marketplaces.</p>
<p><strong>Where do you see the mobile commerce/social commerce segment evolving in the coming years? Where do countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and other emerging markets fit into the overall scheme for Carousell?</strong></p>
<p>Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market is expected to surpass US$25 billion by 2020. There are over 600 million people here, but almost 400 million are not connected to the internet yet. We are present in one of the world’s fastest-growing online commerce regions, and more people are experiencing the internet for the first time through their smartphones.</p>
<p>We’re reaching out to a generation of internet users who leapfrogged the desktop internet, creating an environment where we can take a mobile-first approach to solving unique local problems.</p>
<p>Smartphone technology is changing the way people shop, travel, search for information, share experiences and so much more. We have an incredible opportunity to reimagine the way they buy and sell online. There is enormous potential.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Carousell is currently present in 14 major cities, including Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. We most recently launched in Manila in early October. It is our fastest market to reach half a million listings, and a clear signal that there is a strong market need for a product like Carousell. One of our key priorities in the coming years is bringing our product to a greater number of cities worldwide.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Also Read: </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/49254-49254/">Singapore’s Carousell raises $35m Series B in round led by Rakuten</a></strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/carousel-appoints-29310/">Singapore: Carousell poaches Airbnb Asia head Chai Jia Jih as VP to lead global growth</a></strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/singapore-marketplace-app-carousell-launches-web-platform-to-further-its-reach-21872/">Singapore marketplace app Carousell launches web platform to further its reach</a></strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/55834-55834/">We’re bullish on investing in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore: Vishal Harnal, 500 Startups</a></strong></em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/ai-based-visual-shopping-startup-bags-10-5m-series-b-from-rakuten-others-53463/">Singapore: Visenze bags $10.5m from Rakuten, others</a></strong></em></span></p>
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Mobile marketplace Carousell has acquired mobile-first car trading application Caarly and made several key hires as part of an expansion push. 

Mobile marketplace Carousell acquires auto-focussed Caarly, beefs up team

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