Malaysia’s very first tech unicorn is a used car e-commerce platform. With a US$1.3 billion valuation—after closing a US$200 million funding round on 1 September—Carsome has shown that pre-loved cars are getting much love.

The company, which claims to be Southeast Asia’s—not just Malaysia’s—largest used car e-commerce platform, has roughly 2,000 employees across the region. It transacts more than 100,000 cars annually, which translates to roughly US$1 billion in revenue.

Surely, Carsome’s co-founder and group CEO Eric Cheng must be a happy man today?

“Honestly speaking, I think the valuation or the unicorn title is a milestone, it’s not time to pop the champagne or anything,” he tells The Ken.

AUTHOR

Ka Kay Lum

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Ka Kay covers investment activities, aka following the money, across Southeast Asia and in-depth stories on the often-overlooked Malaysian startup ecosystem. She was previously a regional writer for Nikkei-owned DealStreetAsia.

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