The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Strategic decision · 2015–2026
CARS24's used-car bet: FY25 revenue down 10%, ₹543 Cr loss, 6–12 month IPO plan
CARS24 bet India's used-car market would consolidate around a full-stack player; FY25 gross revenue fell 10% to ₹6,233 Cr as it cut costs toward an IPO.
CARS24 (CARS24 Services Pvt Ltd)
What the business is
Full-stack pre-owned-car platform: buys cars from owners at inspection centres, reconditions them, sells through retail and dealer auctions, and adds financing (Loans24), insurance and ownership services.
Starting capital：Raised over $1.3B (Inc42); last big round was ~$450M in Dec 2021 at a $3.2B valuation from SoftBank, Tencent and others, with no external funding round since.
How it started
Four founders — Vikram Chopra, Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal and Ruchit Agarwal — started CARS24 in Gurugram in 2015. The bet rested on a structural gap: India's used-car market processes roughly six million transactions a year, but only about one in five went through organized players, so a trusted full-stack brand could pull supply out of fragmented informal dealerships.
What happened
CARS24 became a unicorn in 2020 after a $200M Series E and raised about $450M in Dec 2021 at a $3.2B valuation. India gross revenue grew 25% to ₹6,910 Cr in FY24, then fell 10% to ₹6,233 Cr in FY25 with the net loss widening 9% to ₹543 Cr; vehicle procurement consumed 81% of total costs. With private capital closed since 2021, investors pushed profitability: CARS24 cut hundreds of jobs, wound down spare-parts venture Inspare and servicing business FourDoor, exited Thailand, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, and lost senior leaders including its India CEO and COO co-founder Mehul Agrawal in early 2026.
How it ended up
Still private and running a self-described turnaround: CEO Vikram Chopra said in Jan 2026 CARS24 aims to list within six to twelve months, citing H1 FY26 adjusted net revenue up 18% to ₹651 Cr and adjusted EBITDA loss down 36% to ₹162 Cr, with December 2025 its strongest-ever month. As of June 2026 no DRHP had been filed.
Background
CARS24 was founded in Gurugram in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Gajendra Jangid, Mehul Agrawal and Ruchit Agarwal to organize India's fragmented used-car market. Rather than a pure listing marketplace, it bought cars directly from owners through inspection centres, reconditioned them, and resold them through its own retail stores and a dealer auction channel.
The model attracted huge backing: a unicorn round in 2020, then about $450M in December 2021 from SoftBank, Tencent and others at a $3.2B valuation, with over $1.3B raised in total. India gross revenue grew 25% to ₹6,910 Cr in FY24, but the business was capital-heavy — vehicle procurement was 81% of total costs — and losses stayed large.
In FY25 the expansion bet hit a wall: India gross revenue fell 10% to ₹6,233 Cr and the net loss widened 9% to ₹543 Cr, just as the private capital that had funded growth closed off. CARS24 cut hundreds of jobs, shut its Inspare spare-parts and FourDoor servicing businesses, exited Thailand, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, and went through a leadership exodus in early 2026.
Management now points to a turnaround: adjusted net revenue up 18% to ₹651 Cr in H1 FY26 with the adjusted EBITDA loss down 36%, 1.1 crore monthly active users, and a 6–12 month timeline to an IPO announced by CEO Chopra in January 2026. As of mid-2026 the company had not yet filed draft papers, making the public listing the next test of whether the full-stack bet can become profitable.
What has to be true
- India's used-car market was structurally informal — roughly six million annual transactions with only about a fifth going through organized platforms — leaving room for a trust-and-quality brand.
- Buying inventory gave CARS24 control over supply, inspection and resale that pure marketplaces lacked, and financing (Loans24) added a higher-margin layer.
- The capital-heavy model depended on continuous funding: when private markets closed after 2021, FY25 revenue fell 10% and the ₹543 Cr loss exposed the cost structure.
- International expansion into Thailand, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia failed to pay and was pruned, while the UAE turned adjusted-EBITDA positive as a proof point.
- The 2026 IPO push (6–12 month target, reverse-flip to India) is the company's chosen exit from the funding drought, with H1 FY26 adjusted losses down 36% as evidence.
What can be applied
A full-stack model buys dominance but pays for every car twice. When private capital closes, revenue and losses both turn against you until higher-margin services carry the model.
Aftermath
As of June 2026 CARS24 is still private and preparing to go public: CEO Vikram Chopra said in Jan 2026 the company aims to list within six to twelve months. It reported 1.1 crore monthly active users and 85,000 cars worth over ₹3,700 Cr traded in H1 FY26, with adjusted net revenue of ₹651 Cr (+18%) and an adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹162 Cr (−36%); December 2025 was its strongest month. It has bought Team BHP, CarInfo and VehicleInfo and consolidated around India, UAE and Australia, where UAE is adjusted-EBITDA positive. No DRHP had been filed as of mid-2026.
Sources
- CARS24 Eyeing IPO In 6-12 Months: CEO Vikram Chopra
- CARS24, CarDekho and Spinny plan $1 billion IPOs as India's used-car sales surge
- Cars24 co-founder and COO Mehul Agrawal steps down amid top-level churn
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