Sequoia Capital-backed CarDekho has acquired Ibibo’s automobile site Gaadi.com, reports The Times of India. While the acquisition amount remained undisclosed, the report pegs the deal at $11 million.
CarDekho founder & CEO Amit Jain told the publication that both the company will continue to remain independent and operate as separate businesses. He said that this acquisition will enable them to focus on pre-owned car business which currently accounts for only 10% of their revenues.
Jain claimed that the combined entity of CarDekho and Gaadi will be the largest online auto classifieds sites in terms of revenue and traffic and it now hopes to clock Rs 500 crore revenues over the next five years with 50% revenues coming from both used car sales and new car sales.
This acquisition follows a source-based Times Of India report in June that had suggested that Ibibo Group is in talks to sell Gaadi.com to CarDekho, although it was apparently looking for other bidders as well. Ibibo had acquired majority stake in Gaadi.com from Accentium Web* in February 2011.
Interestingly, Accentium Web had launched another automobile website 99Cars last month. Perhaps, there was a non compete agreement between them which recently got over.
Ibibo to focus on its online travel portfolio
Ibibo Group CEO Ashish Kashyap told the publication that this acquisition will enable to focus on their online travel portfolio that includes online travel agent Goibibo, bus booking site redBus, B2B travel portal Travel Boutique Online and the recently acquired bus tracking site YourBus.
Note that Ibibo also owns Tradus which recently pivoted to become a grocery-only marketplace and CEO Mudit Khosla also left the company. Earlier this month, Kashyap had told Medianama that a new avatar for Tradus is planned since it is getting “good traction on local”, denying rumors that the site is shutting down.
It’s also worth noting that Ibibo group which operates Naspers’s India business had opted for a transaction-centric approach after Naspers separated from Tencent in India last October. Post the separation, Ibibo/MIH India managed Goibibo, redBus, Tradus, Gaadi and PayU India which later become independent of the Ibibo Group. Among the remaining businesses, Gaadi was probably the odd one out since it wasn’t transaction-focused unlike other businesses.
Competition: Besides 99Cars, others players in this segment include Axel Springer’s CarWale, Times Internet’s ZigWheels and India.com’s Oncars.in.
*Accentium Web has been founded by Vivek Pahwa, who is MediaNama Editor Nikhil Pahwa’s cousin.
