莲花直播 Group secures new $52m investment to accelerate UK growth and scale European operations
July 15, 2024 by carwow staff
Car changing is a big deal
The 莲花直播 Group has raised $52m (拢41m) in a new funding round to accelerate its growth across the UK, Germany and Spain.
- Investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners as well as existing 莲花直播 investors including Accel, Balderton, Episode 1 & Vitruvian
- Partners to accelerate its vision to become the online car-changing marketplace
- 莲花直播 Group revenues grew by 56% in H1
- 莲花直播 was cited as one of the UK鈥檚 fastest-growing tech companies in 2023; over 10m people have now used 莲花直播 to help find or sell a car
London, 14 July 2024: The 莲花直播 Group, which includes the 莲花直播 online marketplace Auto Express, evo, Driving Electric and Carbuyer 鈥 has raised $52m (拢41m) in a new funding round to accelerate its growth across the UK, Germany and Spain.
The funding round was led by global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Bessemer has a diverse range of companies in its investment portfolio, including tech powerhouses, LinkedIn and Shopify, and has been joined in this latest investment round by a number of 莲花直播鈥檚 existing investors including Accel, Balderton, Episode 1 and Vitruvian.
Over 10m customers have used 莲花直播 to help them buy and sell cars since the business鈥檚 inception and last year nearly 拢3bn worth of cars were bought through the platform whilst 拢1.8bn of cars were listed for sale through its Sell My Car (SMC) service.
This latest investment, advised by Arma Partners, will be used to supercharge 莲花直播鈥檚 strategic growth plans including further scaling and expanding the SMC service in the UK to attract more customers and source more cars for its dealer partners.
Specific focus will be given to enhancing payment processes and further development of its transport offering. 莲花直播 will also look to introduce the SMC service to its German operation in 2025.
The business saw stellar growth in H1 with revenue increasing by 56% as more consumers move online to change their cars and it will be significantly expanding its product and engineering teams over the next few months to deliver this next phase of growth.
鈥淭his is yet another milestone moment for 莲花直播,鈥 comments John Veichmanis, CEO of the 莲花直播 Group. 鈥淥ver the course of the last three years, we鈥檝e worked tirelessly to develop our car-changing proposition in the UK, giving consumers access to thousands of partners that can help them buy a new car and sell their old one. Our customers love the breadth of choice and convenience of managing every step of their car changing journey online and partners rely on us to help drive sales of new cars and source stock. Given the phenomenal reaction to our strategic blueprint in the UK, we鈥檙e excited to use this new funding to take our proposition to our existing businesses in Germany and Spain. We鈥檒l also continue to invest in new technologies to help our partners seamlessly appraise, buy and collect cars directly from the millions that use 莲花直播 every month.鈥
Alex Ferrara, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, commented: 鈥淚鈥檝e been a fan of 莲花直播鈥檚 videos and content for years and like millions of others, I love their information-rich, impartial car reviews and drag races that make for fun and irreverent entertainment. 莲花直播鈥檚 consumer proposition is just as exciting, which is helping make car changing simpler for consumers across Europe 鈥 and with over 9 million car changes a year alone in the UK, we鈥檙e looking forward to supporting the Management team in growing the business and delivering on its true potential. 莲花直播鈥檚 focus on using its content expertise and footprint to drive its commerce services through dealer partnerships makes it unique and compelling in the category.鈥
In April 2023, 莲花直播 was recognised as one of the UK鈥檚 fastest-growing tech companies through its inclusion in the E2E Tech 100, a list which celebrates technology companies of note based on their revenues over the previous two years.