Amit Jain’s world may revolve around cars, but at heart, the co-founder and CEO of CarDekho Group is a technologist. “I’m a programmer by profession…writing code is something I love to do and still do,” said Mr. says Jain, 47. , reviews, comparisons, and other services to help users choose their next wheelset.
Founded in 2008, CarDekho Group is one of India’s leading automotive technology and financial solutions providers with over 60 million monthly active users. The value is approximately 1.2 billion dollars (approximately 1.2 billion dollars) INRThe group currently operates in many areas, including insurance (InsuranceDekho), fintech (through the digital lending platform Rupyy) and other automotive content portals (BikeDekho, ZigWheels, Powerdrift), with a total of 6,000 employees. is.
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According to a 2021 report, CarDekho “entered the unicorn club after raising $250 million.” mint This article is supported by investors including Peak XV (formerly Sequoia), Hillhouse Capital, CapitalG, Ratan Tata Trust, LeapFrog, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank. In 2023, the Group recorded the following revenues: INR233.1 billion yen, an increase of 46% from FY22. The group expects revenue to increase by 60-70% in FY2024 as well.
I recently met Jain at the CarDekho office in Gurugram, Haryana. Away from the noisy, lively open office environment, we settle into a conference room. In an hour-long conversation over tea, Jayne explains how this journey of becoming a serial entrepreneur and building a “billion dollar company” (which is what he accomplished) led him to a garage. I recalled how it started.
Born in Jaipur, Jain grew up in a middle-class family devoted to studies. After he completed his schooling in the city, he studied civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. “IIT Delhi is a great campus. You can become street smart here too. You become more confident and sociable. Your dreams become even bigger. In Jaipur, I was in a cocoon. ” says Jayne.
Jain said his first income was teaching tuition classes to cover his expenses in Delhi. After graduating in 1999, he moved to Mumbai where he started working as a software engineer at Tata Consultancy Services. A year later, he joined the American software company Trilogy, where he spent a year in Austin, Texas. “It was a very enterprising and entrepreneurial kind of setup, encouraging college students to launch their own startups. I saw a different world there,” Jain says.
He slowly rose through the ranks at Trilogy and became a product manager, spending six years in the US before moving to Bengaluru to help set up an office there. “The first service I launched within Trilogy was YourBillBuddy.com,” Jain recalls. “We read postpaid cell phone bills and told us the right plan to save more money. I built that service, marketed it, and acquired customers.”
By 2006, Jain decided to return to Jaipur with his younger brother Anurag (also an IIT graduate) as their father’s health deteriorated. “Jaipur didn’t have an IT industry per se. That’s when we thought of starting our own company,” he explains. Together, the two companies founded GirnarSoft, a software solutions and services outsourcing company. GirnarSoft currently serves as the parent company of CarDekho and other popular automotive portals.
The brothers named their company after their family home, Girnar and Microsoft. “Initially, we opened an office in our garage and hired a number of freshmen to intern with us. In a small organization, no one with more seniority or experience would want to join. .”These ‘interns’ still serve in various leadership roles at CarDekho,” Jain said.
By the end of 2007, Jainism was at a crossroads. After just one year, GirnarSoft is doing very well. “The company was profitable in the first year itself. At the end of the first year, we were sitting on a pile of cash. But in the outsourcing business, building a billion dollar company… “That’s when we thought we needed to build something product-led and online,” he added.
It was around the same time that Jain and his brother visited the 2008 Auto Expo in Delhi and returned with the concept of a new business, CarDekho. The idea was simple. The idea is to use technology and the internet to provide customers with a best-in-class car buying and selling experience. Similar platforms existed, such as CarTrade (2006) and CarWale (2003). Other players like Cars24 (2015) and his Droom (2014) also came later.
“Both Anurag and I love cars. I think every middle-class person has the dream of buying a luxury car. I was sitting on Marine Drive (in Mumbai) and all these luxury cars… We watched them go by. Around the time of the Expo, we were also considering buying our first car. “I used my first year’s profits from GirnarSoft to buy a BMW 3 Series,” says Jain. say. “I did a lot of research online[about BMW]but there wasn’t much information available, not even about some of the cars I saw.”
Using car brochures collected from Auto Expos, Jain and Anurag have set up a portal where people can find the right information and explore cars before making a purchase decision. “We had him code the site in a week,” says Jain. “Slowly we started getting traffic to our website. We were getting 50 to 100 users per day. We thought if we could get even 25,000 users per day at some point, we’d get there. That’s a big number…we’re currently doing almost 100 million hits a month. ”
Once she started her entrepreneurial journey, Jayne decided to give it her all. Back in 2008, his CarDekho.com wasn’t the only portal he and his Anurag launched. The brothers launched his website for astrology services (myastrologyhorscope.com) since their grandfather was an astrologer, and also launched an e-commerce site (myjewellerydeals) to take over their father’s silver jewelry business online. com) was launched.
“We were still figuring out what to do. Our DNA was leveraging my SEO skills, keeping customer acquisition costs to zero, and generating free organic traffic.” he says.
This knack for finding untapped or “white space” has inspired Jain and Anurag to launch other portals as well. He launched MobileDekho for gadgets and MyIndiaGuide for travel in 2009, and ShopDekho for e-commerce in 2010.
This entrepreneurial journey was not without its challenges. While they continued to build his CarDekho, several other businesses, such as astrology and jewelry startups, had to close or did not scale as expected. “We didn’t want to pursue something that couldn’t scale. Every business has its own challenges and learnings,” says Jain. For example, when ShopDekho.com wasn’t doing as well as his competitors like Flipkart, Jain decided to pivot and start his PriceDekho, a product price comparison portal. He invests in futures and options.
Then, in 2008 and 2009, the market recession nearly bankrupted their company. “That was a lesson learned… We created a site where users can learn to trade the stock market using cryptocurrencies in a virtual world. It’s called ekkadus.com and it’s based on my own loss experience. ” A recent example of a bet that went wrong was CarDekho’s used car franchise retail business, which was discontinued in 2023. There was no profit pool in that business, so we shut it down. ”
But CarDekho continues to grow. The website was one of the top three most visited automotive websites in India in January, according to data from web analytics firm SimilarWeb. In December, the company entered the personal mobility field by acquiring a majority stake in Revv, a shared mobility platform that provides shared car rental services. “Shared mobility is already growing in India. Look at the number of people who are now leasing their cars through corporate leasing or subscription. That is also growing,” says Jain.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are another segment that Jain and CarDekho are keenly eyeing. “In 10 years, the majority of new cars sold will be electric vehicles. Tastes have changed dramatically. They now want technology rather than products,” he predicts.
Entrepreneurship is still in the heart of Jainism. He regularly posts motivational quotes to his As some of the recent investment deals on the show have emphasized, it’s human, not human. “We always need great people…I’m always looking for more founder-level skill sets (in individuals). It’s easy to find greed, flair, and ownership in one person. That’s not true.” Every time I find someone like that. Ek aur business char kar leta hun (I’m going to start another business),” he said, citing the example of Crack-Ed, the upskilling platform he started with Debojit Sen in 2022.
Outside of work, Jain enjoys playing tennis and plays tennis every day when she is in Jaipur. He prefers to spend time with his wife and twin boys at his home. “When I’m not busy playing board games, I love teaching them math.” Jain, who grew up in a joint family, makes it a point to see her relatives regularly. Respect family values and culture while staying happy. That was an important part of my life. ”
When Jain is not in Jaipur, he catches up with his colleagues and team members at CarDekho. “Work harder and party harder. That’s what I believe in.”