Singapore second-hand goods specialist Carousell raises $70 million in capital

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 3, 2017

Singapore second-hand goods specialist Carousell has reportedly raised between $70 and $80 million (between €60 and €69 million) worth of capital to turbo-charge its expansion in South-East Asia, according to US website Techcrunch.

Carousell did not confirm the information, simply stating that "since our second financing round in August 2016, worth $35 million, we rapidly grew from 35 million subscribers to over 95 million subscribers worldwide in September 2017. We are constantly seeking to contact new investors and partners who can help us reach our objectives. We have no news to share about our fund-raising efforts at the moment, but we will get in touch with you once we will have significant updates."

Previous round-table talks organised by Carousell led to investment by major names such as Rakuten, Sequoia Capital, Golden Gate Ventures and 500 Startups. Carousell focuses chiefly on the mobile market, where it faces competition from Lazada and Shopee, in a region where e-commerce has a strong growth potential.

In South-East Asia, 600,000 new web purchasers join the e-tail market every month, among the 3.8 million people who go online for the first time each month. A survey made last year estimated that e-commerce in the region could generate a revenue of $88 billion in 2025, compared to $5.5 billion ten years earlier.