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Online automobile marketplace Droom has announced that it has closed the first leg of its ongoing pre-IPO growth funding round of up to $200 million, and has entered the coveted unicorn club at a valuation of $1.2 billion.

The latest round of funding saw several existing investors and new investors participating, including 57 Stars and Seven Train Ventures.

The company said that it is pursuing a dual-track for a possible IPO, and aims to be listed either on NASDAQ or in India in 2022.

Commenting on the development, Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Droom, said,

“Over the past seven years, we have invested millions of dollars and thousands of human hours to build a full technology-based end-to-end transactional marketplace for buying and selling of automobiles online. We have developed the complete technology-based machinery starting from first-mile services such as OBV, ECO, and History to mid-mile services like loan & insurance and last-mile services like doorstep delivery. Droom has been on a steady growth trajectory after Covid. While automobile is the largest retail category, it is the least penetrated online. In a post-pandemic world, we expect automobile buying and selling to shift online rapidly”.

Droom claims that its current annual run-rate is $1.7 billion for GMV, and $54 million for Net Revenue, and that it remains on track to touch a GMV of $2 billion and a Net Revenue of $65 million+ in CY2021. With the current scale, technology-oriented business, and operational efficiency, Droom is nearing profitability, Droom said in a statement.

The company said that it has seen massive digital adoption during the pandemic besides increasing preference in consumers for ownership of automobiles versus public transportation or ride-sharing, and that it expects online penetration for automobile buying and selling to increase to 7 percent in 2025, up from 0.7 percent currently.

Gene Pohren, Managing Director, 57 Stars, said, “Globally we are seeing automobile buying and selling shifting online, for both ICE and electric vehicles. We think Sandeep and his team have built an impressive digital ecosystem that can revolutionise the automobile buying and selling experience”.