MEXICO CITY, April 7 Reuters Mexican usedcar platform Kavak has reached a 4 billion valuation after raising 485 million in new funding, it told Reuters this week, making the fastexpanding company one of the most highly valued startups in Latin America.
Kavak, which was founded in 2016 and is backed by Japans SoftBank Group Corp, became Mexicos first tech unicorn last October when it reported a valuation of more than 1 billion.
The new capital injection will help Kavak, an online platform for buying and selling secondhand cars operating in Mexico and Argentina, launch in Brazil in the next couple of months, Chief Executive Carlos Garcia said.
He said he expected Brazil, Latin Americas largest economy, eventually to overtake the two initial markets for Kavak, which aims to simplify buying used cars in emerging markets where potential buyers often struggle to dodge fraud and obtain loans.
We definitely foresee Brazil as the biggest market for Kavak, Garcia said in an interview on Monday.
The company is eyeing expansion elsewhere in Latin America over the next 12 months, and aims to take the business to emerging markets outside the region in about two years.
Crossing the Atlantic is one of our ambitions, Garcia said. We see a lot of markets in Europe, in Southeast Asia, the Middle East where we could have significant value.
Kavaks latest funding round, which closed in January, lured U.S.based investment firms D1 Capital Partners, Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital…