Moladin was ‘almost dead.’ Then it pivoted to used cars – and raised $137m

For many, Moladin’s rise came out of nowhere.

Within less than four months this year, the used-car marketplace raised US$137 million across two rounds from investors such as East Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Northstar Group. After its latest round of financing, Moladin was valued at US$765 million.

But the situation was drastically different around two years ago. According to financial information detailed on VentureCap Insights, Moladin had US$274,000 in total assets as of September 30, 2020. It also had accumulated losses of US$2.4 million.

How did its circumstances change so much, so quickly?

The key appears to be its pivot from motorcycles to used cars. Indonesia – Moladin’s only market – is the largest used-car industry in Southeast Asia at US$20 billion, according to a 2020 study by Singapore-based venture builder Momentum Works. Compared to motorcycles, selling cars also involves a much higher ticket size.

On the other hand, Moladin’s growth beats even that of Carro and Carsome, the major secondhand-car players in the region’s tech space. Of course, these companies are still much bigger by most metrics, but going by fundraising alone, it’s undeniable that Moladin’s investors are bullish.

Shifting gears

Established in 2017, East Ventures-backed Moladin initially sold both used and new motorbikes. But there is little information about the company’s performance during its motorcycle days.

Despite claiming 20% to 30% user growth every month by July 2018, multiple sources with direct knowledge of Moladin’s operations say that it was indeed “almost dead” before pivoting into the used-car industry in 2021.

By that point, original co-founder Mario Tanamas had already quit the year before, leaving his fellow founder Jovin Hoon, who serves as Moladin’s CEO. Andrew Khoo later joined the company as co-founder.

In a statement to Tech in Asia, Moladin’s Hoon says that it was part of their journey to try different products, including motorcycles, new cars, and spare parts, as they strived to build an automotive ecosystem over the last five years.

The company confirms that it has seen rapid growth after changing gears, with transaction volume climbing more than 20x over a few months in 2021, although it declined to disclose how many cars it has sold exactly.

The Moladin team / Photo credit: Moladin

An industry source who asked not to be named told Tech in Asia that Moladin saw monthly sales soar from 10 billion rupiah (US$691,000) in early 2021 to 560 billion rupiah (US$38.7 million) in the second half of that year – a 56x increase.

Agent-based strategy

Where it stands