How Carro drove its revenue to S$1.1b

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For as long as I’ve lived in Hanoi, used motorbikes have been my primary mode of transport.

Buying pre-owned motorbikes with my limited Vietnamese language skills and even more limited knowledge of what makes a good scooter had led to some poor decisions. For instance, for years I drove what a friend described as a “Franken-bike” because it was cobbled together from pieces of various bikes and broke down constantly.

Now, though, I drive a pretty reliable semi-automatic. What’s made all the difference is that I bought it from a friend’s mechanic, who has been happy to make any repairs I need.

I guess what I was missing before was a little bit of aftersales care, so it’s no big surprise to me that secondhand-car marketplace Carro has seen big growth in that and other ancillary parts of its business.

Though as today’s featured story dives into, the Singapore-based company’s big revenue jump was largely driven by its core marketplace arm.

Today we look at:

• Carro’s revenue surge
• Chinese tech major Xiaomi launching its first electric car
• Other newsy highlights such as OpenAI planning to open its first Asian office in Tokyo and VC firm GGV Capital rebranding its Asian operations to Granite Asia.

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Carro’s revenue drive

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Carro has posted some solid results for the financial year ended March 31, 2023, headlined by a 67% revenue jump.

The company’s revenue hit S$1.1 billion (US$818 million), as sales continued to rise and its investments in other areas like financing, insurance, and aftersales bloomed.

• Bread and butter: About 90% of that revenue came from the company’s core marketplace unit, Carro CFO Ernest Chew told Tech in Asia. However, the highest growth was seen in ecosystem-led ancillaries like financing, mobility, insurance, and aftersales, he added.
• By the numbers: It wasn’t all rosy results for Carro though, as losses after tax soared to US$94 million in FY 2023 from US$6.7 million the year before. Unrealized strategic investment losses were part of the reason. “One of our acquisitions has had its assets significantly revalued upward, but ironically had negatively impacted our P&L (e.g., higher depreciation, reversal of fair value uplift) in the short term,” explained Chew.
• In the green: Carro recorded positive adjusted EBITDA for the year at US$3 million and the company appears on track to surpass that in 2024. The figure for the first quarter of FY 2024 was US$11 million, the firm’s highest-ever quarterly profit.

Xiaomi hits the road

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