Even Google Capital is tired of used car salesmen. It just funded a digital alternative

Used car salesmen have a pretty bad reputation. Photo credit: TexasEagle.

Used car salesmen aren’t going to be around for much longer. They’re getting replaced fast by auto portals which provide everything from information to verification. Consumers are starting to rely more on these portals, and investors love them too.

Indian car portal CarDekho officially announced its latest round of funding from Google Capital today. While it didn’t disclose the amount, rumors about the news have been floating around for a while. Most sources report the latest round is around US$15 million. That brings its total funding to US$80 million across four rounds.

It matters who you take investment from, and CarDekho’s cofounder Amit Jain emphasizes that. “If you look at our investor list, we’re getting to a defining point,” explains Amit. “This funding is important for our long term strategy.”

The car portal was founded by Amit and Anurag Jain and has previously gotten funding from Sequoia Capital, Ratan Tata, Hillhouse Capital, and HDFC Bank.

In India, Google Capital has been a smart investor and placed its bets on startups working hard in different sectors. Its investments in the country include healthcare startup Practo, customer service SaaS Freshdesk, and housing portal CommonFloor. It claims to focus on helping companies grow faster, which is important if CarDekho wants to beat the competition to conquer the massive used car sector in India.

See: Why is CarDekho valued at US$300m?

Investors love used cars

Photo credit: Moyan Brenn.

Market research company Frost & Sullivan reported that there were an equal amount of new and used car sales in 2014.

And yet, new cars are still considered status symbols.

“We’ve done a lot to capture our customers,” explained CarDekho president Umang Kumar in an earlier interview. “We’ve [had] to break it down to three aspects: trust, convenience, and price.”

Users can compare car prices on the site, and some vehicles go through a verification process known as the CarDekho “Trustmark”. Buyers and sellers are expected to coordinate logistics themselves.

They also host an ecommerce site where users can buy car accessories.