Droom Turns Unicorn with $1.2 Bn Valuation, Eyes Nasdaq Listing

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 28 July 2021, 12:53:27 PM IST

Droom Turns Unicorn with $1.2 Bn Valuation, Eyes Nasdaq Listing

India’s largest online automobile marketplace, Droom has been valued at $1.2 billion in a new funding round that added the company to India’s unicorn club.

The firm has closed the first leg of a pre-IPO funding round of up to $200 million. The round had existing investors and new ones like 57 Stars and Seven Train Ventures. The company is pursuing a possible IPO and aims to be listed either on USA’s Nasdaq or in India in 2022.

Sandeep Aggarwal, founder and CEO, Droom says, “Over the past seven years, we have invested millions of dollars and thousands of human hours to build a full technology-based end-to-end transactional marketplace for buying and selling of automobiles online.”

Droom’s current annual run-rate is $1.7 billion for GMV (gross merchandise value) and $54 million for net revenue. The company states that it remains on track to touch a GMV of $2 billion and net revenue of over $65 million in CY2021. With the current scale, technology-oriented business, and operational efficiency Droom is approaching profitability.

Sandeep further adds, “In a post-pandemic world, we expect automobile buying and selling to shift online rapidly.”

Droom has reported increasing consumer preference for ownership of automobiles versus public transportation or ride-sharing. The company expects online penetration for automobile buying and selling to increase to seven percent in 2025, up from 0.7 percent currently.

Gene Pohren, managing director, 57 Stars says, “Globally we are seeing automobile buying and selling shifting online, for both ICE and electric vehicles. We think Sandeep and his team have built an impressive digital ecosystem that can revolutionize the automobile buying and selling experience".

Droom races with its rivals that inlcude Cars4, CarDekho, CarTrade and Spinny. In 2021, India has witnessed around 17 firms venture the unicorn club, which startups with over $1 billion valuation.

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