Online car sales platform Carzam has secured £112m in its first funding round, as the company prepares to scale and improve its offering.
Carzam expects revenues to be close to £150m for its first year of trading, equating to 13,500 sales of used cars through its website. The company launched in December 2020 and now employs more than 150 people.
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Founders Peter Waddell and John Bailey are joined by a US-registered global institutional investment management firm with more than $37bn in assets under management as the lead investor in Carzam’s first external fundraising round.
John Bailey, who is former President of Cox Automotive, said: “This is a pivotal moment in Carzam’s history. To attract investment at this scale just months after our launch is a huge achievement and is recognition of our rapid growth.”
Carzam chief executive Kirk O’Callaghan will now lead the business. On the funding round, he said: “The appetite for investment in Carzam reflects the strength of its online car sales proposition. We continue to grow our customer and remarketing services in preparation to increase our unit numbers exponentially.
“The £112m will propel Carzam into its next chapter. The funding will support technology development, which is required to keep pace with consumer demand.”
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By GlobalDataSince its launch, Carzam has assembled a management team of industry experts who bring with them a wealth of experience. Following Kirk O’Callaghan’s arrival from Sytner’s Carshop, James Buxton left Audi to become Carzam’s chief commercial officer.
Former CEO and CFO at Cox Automotive UK, Michael Buxton, was one of the first senior appointments, becoming CFO, and Ashley Wade joined from Renault as chief marketing officer.
The most recent addition to the Carzam team was Dave Palmer, formerly of Sytner’s Carshop, who became Chief Vehicle Preparation Officer in August. He is responsible for overseeing Carzam’s preparation process and standards as transactions and stock levels accelerate.
Royal Bank of Canada supported Carzam through the investment process and CMS acted as the company’s legal advisor.
