Carousell Secures US$85M Series C Funding

Carousell announces that it has raised US$85 million in Series C funding, co-led by Rakuten Ventures and EDBI, with participation from existing investors, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures and Sequoia India, as well as new investor, DBS. As one of the world,s largest and fastest growing classifieds marketplace, Carousell is constantly innovating to create a better, faster experience for people to buy and sell conveniently and securely. The capital injection will accelerate Carousell’s product innovation to reimagine classifieds in an AI-first world. A key component will be investment into talent and deep technology capabilities to elevate the Carousell market place.

Siu Rui Quek, Carousell Co-founder and CEO says, “In the past 6 years, we’ve gathered a lot more data, feedback and learnings about the problems and friction people face when buying and selling online. We are laser focused on solving these problems with technology and catering to local cultural norms and behaviours in Southeast Asia, while ultimately serving our core mission of inspiring everyone in the world to start selling. The investment will enable us to continue building up our teams with top tier talent to accelerate our development of highly anticipated features, and more AI and machine learning capabilities. We are grateful for the support of our new and existing investors, and their strong validation of our team’s execution capabilities, passion for the mission and product vision.”

In the two years following its last round of funding, Carousell has celebrated a series of accomplishments across its seven markets. The marketplace has quadrupled in volume globally, featuring more than 144 million listings and 50 million items sold. Established as one of Southeast Asia’s leading classifieds marketplaces, Carousell began to realise its AI vision in 2017, with the launch of predictive features like Smart Listings, personalised browsing and chatting experiences.

In conjunction with the investment, DBS and Carousell will be collaborating to offer financial products and payment services on Carousell’s platforms. DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta says, “DBS has been leveraging digital technology and innovation to seamlessly integrate banking into the lives of customers. We’re stepping up our participation in ecosystems, improving the customer journey and using data to inform our offerings. The investment in Carousell further builds on that. As a strategic partner to Carousell, we can leverage on Carousell’s platforms to connect to its community both inside and outside of Singapore, and strengthen our next-generation proposition jointly with Carousell.”

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