carwow secures $55m from Hercules Capital to scale its car buying and selling platform
The online marketplace has raised venture debt to expand its Sell Your Car service into international markets.
carwow operates an online marketplace connecting motorists with car dealers across Europe.
carwow has secured $55m in venture debt from Hercules Capital to expand its Sell Your Car service. The fresh capital follows strong trading performance across its core operations and builds upon its previous funding round in 2019. The company intends to direct the proceeds towards international expansion, technological development, and user acquisition.
The marketplace launched its Sell Your Car platform in June 2021 following the acquisition of Wizzle. The service quickly scaled to become a prominent source of used car inventory for UK dealers, listing hundreds of vehicles daily. carwow is now testing the service in Germany as part of wider international ambitions.
The business also plans to create over 150 new roles within the Sell Your Car division over the coming year, expanding its existing team. Management aims to build upon the platform reach and dealer relationships to accelerate growth.
From the founder
"With some fabulous results and learnings in the UK, the company has started its testing in Germany. Ultimately our aims are global – just like the rest of the business,"
James Hind
CEO at carwow
Investor perspective
"Whilst the focus of this investment is on Sell Your Car, our rapidly growing team also delivered a record year for our new car business. We’ve led the market on the switch to electric vehicles, with over 30% of sales now pure electric, and captured huge consumer demand for finding the best route for getting a new car and selling an old one."
Steve Kuo
Partner, Hercules Capital
Use of funds
- 01Expand into international markets
- 02Continue product development
- 03Invest in sales and marketing
- 04Grow the team