CarDekho Success Story – 2 IT Guys Launched India’s Biggest Car Search Start-up
CarDekho is one of the biggest car-search start-ups in India. In 2007, Amit Jain and Anurag Jain launched the business. With a $1.2 billion valuation, CarDekho has raised $497.5 million in total funding to date. As a result of its excellent performance in this sector, the organisation has also received numerous honours.
CarDekho.com, assists customers in finding the ideal vehicles for their needs. Rich automotive content is provided on the company’s website and app, including professional reviews, comprehensive specs and prices, comparisons, as well as videos and photographs of every car make and model sold in India. To make it easier for customers to buy cars, the company has agreements with major automakers, more than 4000 car dealers, and various financial institutions.
Also, the website offers used car classifieds where users may list their vehicles for sale and search for used vehicles from private sellers and used car lots.
CarDekho Success Story
IIT Delhi graduate Amit and Anurag both have worked for TCS and Trilogy for almost 8 years. This is when Amit’s interest in products and technology began to grow. Over time, they both made the decision to end their professional pursuits and reunite in their hometown, each with their own unique personal justifications.
They considered joining their family’s jewellery business, but ultimately decided against it. Amit initially had the intention of opening an online jewellery store, but when he faced the harsh reality of the industry, he was compelled to change his mind. In the end, the pair decided to focus on what they did best and started GirnarSoft, an IT outsourcing business, without further thinking.
In the beginning, they began by sending emails to potential customers from their bedroom working as an office. However, the duo just ended up contacting anyone who needed IT services.
After an extensive campaign involving countless calls and persistent emails, they eventually locked in their very first customer. Despite the fact that this assignment paid them INR 50,000 less than they usually charge, they accepted it nevertheless. This project gave birth to several others, and it nurtured a burgeoning web of references. They hired their first employee on April 1, 2007, and within a year, their company had grown to 40 members due to the steady flow of work. Now that they had sufficient funds to rely on, they were prepared to fund their own project.
Even though CarDekho was the result of extensive preparation and thought, it was Amit’s trip to the worldwide AutoExpo that persuaded them. From here on out, there was no reversing course. Since the company’s inception, CarDekho has had a rather straightforward and unambiguous business model.
They have only had three sources of income up to this point: AdSense, sponsored ads, and, last but not least, commissions from manufacturers and dealers. AdSense has been their primary and most-discussed source of income. Sponsored ads are their second and most significant revenue source.
In order to ensure that the consumer is happy, CarDekho is one business that participates in the entire process from beginning to end. They quickly began to receive a good amount of traffic as a result of this. Even though CarDekho’s first few years were a little slow, the company eventually established itself.
On the other hand, their figures also showed roaring success when it was reported in January 2012 that they had served 3.4 crore unique visitors in their 4-year existence. Beyond that, by the end of 2012, CarDekho had received 2.5 crore unique visits in a single year, which was almost as much traffic as in the previous.
The service quickly gathered speed and hit a record 1.7 lakh used automobile sales, with used cars being listed from practically all of India’s cities. They had no rivals by 2014! Massive 600 people have been added to their workforce. They were now operating BikeDekho, PriceDekho, MobileDekho, and many more, and they were also doing a respectable amount of business.
CarDekho bought ibibo-owned-Gaadi.com in September 2014. Following this acquisition, CarDekho amassed a combined monthly visitor volume of 15 million.
Now that the company was competing in a different league, it was crucial for them to be visible across all platforms. Thus, a month after the release of their Android app, which saw 100,000 downloads during that time, CarDekho just also released its iOS app. That was obviously insufficient, therefore in September 2014 they also debuted their first television commercial and co-sponsored the Colors Channel premieres of Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya and Big Boss: Season 8. Following this, their website’s unique visitors quickly doubled, and their profits also rose threefold.
CarDekho Acquisitions:
CarDekho has completed 6 acquisitions and 1 investment. The deals cost the corporation more than $ 11 million. CarDekho has made investments in a variety of industries, including Auto E-Commerce & Content, Internet First Media, Consumer Electronics E-Commerce, and others.
The Founders
Anurag Jain
Anurag Jain, who graduated from IIT Delhi, has an Integrated Master of Technology degree in mathematics and computing. Jain worked as a Senior Systems Consultant at i2 Technologies before transitioning to a Senior Operations Research Analyst position at Sabre Holdings. At GirnarSoft, Anurag holds the positions of COO and Co-Founder.
Amit Jain
Amit Jain graduated from the IIT Delhi with a B Tech degree before joining Tata Consultancy Services. Amit joined Trilogy where he became a Product Manager after leaving TCS after working there for a little over a year. Jain then began working for GirnarSoft, where he is currently the CEO and co-founder of the business.
Umang Kumar
Umang Kumar previously served as the co-founder of Gaadi.com, however since that company was acquired by CarDekho, Kumar has remained a part of the group, working as the co-founder and president of the company.
Umang Kumar graduated from Visvesvaraya Technological University with a BE in Computer Science. Following this, Kumar enrolled in the Harvard Business School’s Naspers programme in General Management, Strategy, and Leadership after earning a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian School of Business.
