Used car marketplace TrueBil raises ₹100 crore from Japan’s Joe Hirao

Online marketplace for used vehicles TrueBil has raised ₹100 crore in a Series-B funding round in a mix of debt and equity from Japanese investor Joe Hirao, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Existing investors Kalaari Capital, Inventus Capital, Kae Capital, Shunwei Capital and Tekton also participated in the funding round.

The investment comes after TrueBil (Paix Technology Pvt Limited) raised a follow-on Series-A round from Chinese VC Shunwei and venture debt from Trifecta Capital late last year.

Founded in 2015, Mumbai-based TrueBil has raised ₹160 crore till date.

Hirao also invested $30 million in online automobile marketplace Droom in October last year, Mint had reported. Hirao, founder of Tokyo-headquartered ZIGExN, has backed several real estate and automobile ventures previously.

"The funding will not only boost the brand’s status as a leading used car platform, but also help us take it to the next level of growth. We will be using these funds to expand the business in other geographies and strengthen our technology stack, which is the backbone of the consumer-focused retail business," said Shubh Bansal, co-founder at TrueBil.

The company claims to be selling 600 cars in a month, according to Suraj Kalwani, co-founder and chief executive officer at TrueBil.

TrueBil competes with Cardekho, Cartrade, Carwale, horizontal classifieds majors, OLX and Quikr, and Droom among others.

CarDekho raised $110 million in a Series-C funding round from existing investors Sequoia India, Hillhouse Capital, Alphabet’s growth investment arm Capital G and Axis Bank, Mint reported on January 4.

Founded by Bansal and Suraj Kalwani, Truebil is currently operational in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. It has developed a full-stack model for online-offline integration called TrueBil Direct, allowing users to buy and sell from its offline stores.