Carsome raises $170 million to reach $1.3 billion valuation

Carsome Group has raised $170 million in a funding round from investors including Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek, cementing its position as Malaysia’s largest tech unicorn, valued at $1.3 billion, Reuters say.
“The most important thing we are trying to tackle is the distrust that’s associated with the used-car industry,” says Carsome’s co-founder and chief executive, Eric Cheng, who adds that consumers were becoming more open to buying cars online during lockdowns imposed in countries over the past year.
Six-year-old Carsome’s competitors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2-backed Carro and OLX Auto in Indonesia, part of OLX Group, which runs global trading platforms.