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Enabling marketers to engage with their target audience across video, native & display ad formats
Mumbai, February 26, 2018 – Times Internet, India’s leading digital products company, has partnered with GirnarSoft, parent company of leading auto portals CarDekho.com, BikeDekho.com, Gaadi.com and Zigwheels.com to offer marketers an opportunity to reach out to 17 million in-market car buyers and 10 million in-market bike buyers, through integrated advertising and business solutions.
Times Internet’s smart marketing platform, Colombia, reaches over 270 million visitors per month. Combined with GirnarSoft’s expertise for auto-related information, Times Internet advertisers can engage prospective in-market auto buyers at every stage of their decision making process. Using the power of Colombia’s machine-learning algorithms and GirnarSoft’s intent data, marketers can now convey the right message to the right audience at the most opportune time across Times Internet properties.
Commenting on the alliance, Gulshan Verma, Chief Revenue Officer, Times Internet said, “Buying a vehicle is one of the biggest purchase decisions for Indian consumers. In order to make the right choice, buyers typically consider 4 to 5 brands and pass through different stages of the consumer funnel to arrive at a conclusion. Unlike a consumer browsing for a low involvement product online, the purchase intent of a consumer visiting a GirnarSoft website, such as CarDekho, is quite clear. Our partnership with GirnarSoft will allow marketers to ensure that a prospective car buyer is equipped with the right information to enable their decision, thus making it an imperative investment for marketers to drive results.”
“Today, India is the fastest growing passenger vehicle market among the global eight markets. In such a burgeoning marketplace, and growing digital maturity of Indian audiences, we expect that auto companies will significantly ramp up their digital spends. Research reports estimate that by 2020, digital advertising will influence as much as 70% of India’s annual auto sales. Given that India clocked 21.8 million units in auto sales in 2016-2017, this is a big opportunity, and one that we’re extremely excited about.” said Umang Kumar, President, GirnarSoft. “Our association with Times Internet will offer the auto sector, enhanced and effective user targeting capabilities, thus helping both parties capture a significant share of the digital ad spend in the auto sector.”
About Times Internet
Times Internet is India’s leading digital products company and the digital venture of The Times of India Group. Every month, over 270 million customers visit a Times Internet property, and collectively spend over 10 billion minutes. Times Internet operates the leading media destinations across news, entertainment, lifestyle, sports, finance, music, video, and more. To know more: http://marketing.timesinternet.in
About CarDekho.com
CarDekho.com is a flagship portal of Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. founded in March 2008. CarDekho.com is India’s most popular and leading auto portal catering to the aspiring buyers, the proud owners, the auto enthusiasts and die-hard fans and dealers of cars across the country. The company acquired Gaadi.com, Zigwheels.com, Buying IQ and Drishya360s. The auto portals together draw close to 27 million visits per month. The company concluded its Series B funding in Jan 2015, picking up US$50 million from two Hong Kong-based investors Hillhouse and Tybourne besides existing investor Sequoia. Google Capital invested in the company in March 2016. It also bagged funding from Mr. Ratan Tata and one of the largest banks HDFC. GirnarSoft is now valued at US$400 million. The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2021 with global footprint.
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The two-day long event witnessed record sales of 250 used cars
Bangalore, 24 February 2015: CarDekho.com, the flagship portal of GirnarSoft concluded another Mega Used Car Carnival in Bangalore – the second in 2015 series of “Mega Used Car Carnivals”. The event took place at RBANMS Ground, St. John’s Road, Sivanchetti Gardens, Near Ulsoor Lake, Bengaluru over the weekend of 21st February – 22nd February 2015.
Consumers in Bangalore were offered a great opportunity to explore the best option amongst 500 used cars displayed in the carnival. From an excellent presence of 5000 consumers over two days of event, around 1500 consumers registered for their dream car in this two-day used car carnival which resulted in a record conversion of 250 used cars at the event.The range of cars included from luxury sedans, sports cars, SUVs, mid-segment cars, hatchbacks from a variety of brands all at one place for buyers to explore the best suitable deal conveniently.
Talking about the success of Bangalore Carnival, Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, “We initiated Mega Used Car Carnivals with the objective to reach out to customers in different cities and connect them with the dealers for purchase of used cars. The consumer response at both Delhi and Bangalore Carnival has been overwhelming with a remarkable combined conversion of 500 used cars. We strongly believe in exploring the cities and coming across the people to know and serve the preferences. Given the huge demand from consumers, we will be organizing another car mela in Delhi soon.”
Through this carnival, CarDekho.com facilitated convenient exchange of old cars & offered free valuation to ensure a successful sale for the sellers. Among other special offers, customers had a chance to buy CarDekho.com Trustmark certified used cars which come with great warranty program on the cars they wish to buy. As the undisputed #1 auto portal, CarDekho.com also takes regular initiatives to establish a direct consumer connect and provide a platform through which both buyer and seller can come together, look for their choice of car, research the best deal or discount available and thus follow a smooth transaction.
About CarDekho.com
CarDekho.com is a flagship portal of Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. founded in March 2008. CarDekho.com is today India’s most popular and leading auto portal catering to the aspiring buyers, the proud owners, the auto enthusiasts and die-hard fans and dealers of cars across the country. CarDekho is currently drawing close to 11 million visits per month with 7.5 million unique visitors per month. The company recently acquired another top automotive portal Gaadi.com to add to its used car portfolio. Recent winner of the prestigious ‘Website of the Year 2014’ award, CarDekho.com has been presented with various tokens of appreciation by a number of esteemed institutions, including the awards for the ‘Best Car Website 2014’, ‘Most Popular Website 2012’ and ‘Website of the Year India’given twice in a row – in 2011 and 2012. The portal won its first ‘Best Automotive Website of 2009’ award at the beginning of the journey.
For more details, visit: www.CarDekho.com
About Girnar Software
Girnar Software is an IT company working on offshore products and outsourced software development. It picked up USD 50 Million in a second round of funding and is valued at USD 300 Million. The group company has recently partnered with the iconic Mr. Ratan Tata and will be taking advice for further business enhancement to take the auto classified segment in India to a global level. The group runs other successful portals such as BikeDekho.com and PriceDekho.com. The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2020 with global footprint by creating innovative products and services.
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]]>The post CarDekho.com brings Mega Used Car Carnival 2015 to Bangalore. appeared first on Core Sector Communique.
]]> One-stop platform of used cars for consumers in Bangalore, from 21st – 22nd February 2015.
Bangalore, 19 February 2015: CarDekho.com, the flagship portal of GirnarSoft announces the next in the series of “Mega Used Car Carnivals 2015”: to be held in Bangalore on 21st and 22nd February 2015 at RBANMS Ground, St. John’s Road, Sivanchetti Gardens, Near Ulsoor Lake, Bengaluru. This is second in the series of events that began from New Delhi and will be held across a number of cities; pan India in the coming months.
Consumers can look at buying used cars through various lucrative options and loan schemes being made available as part of the Mega Event. The two-day carnival will host more than 500 cars to choose from and 40 dealers to help consumers with their on spot purchase. CarDekho.com has partnered with HDFC bank as a finance partner to facilitate on the spot loans during this 2 day event. The range of cars will include luxury sedans, sports cars, SUVs, mid-segment cars, hatchbacks from a variety of brands all at one place for consumers to explore suitable options conveniently and make a decision to purchase their dream car.
The Carnival will also facilitate exchange of old cars & offer free valuation to ensure a successful sale for the sellers. Among other special offers, customers can look forward to buying CarDekho certified cars and even get great warranties on the cars they wish to buy. There will also be a lucky draw worth Rs. 1 Lakh for buyers to participate in and an assured gift on every registration.
Talking about the expectation from Bangalore used car market, Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, “The upward growth trend in the used car segment poses an immense opportunity for us to tap into and help our dealer network with their consumer outreach. For most of the people, their first car is a used car; this creates a huge demand in the used car market as compared to new cars. Bangalore, particularly, has seen the highest demand for used sedans amongst all other metros. In 2014, over 15,000 buyers in Bangalore expressed interest in buying used cars on our site, out of which 51% demanded hatchbacks and 28% demanded sedans. Luxury cars also contributed to 4% of the demand. The average offer price of a used car remains Rs. 3.9 lakhs in the city. At this event, we are expecting to see a significant number of sedans get booked at our Mela” He further added, “Our main objective is to help our used car dealer partners in the city by connecting with the prospective buyer, facilitating the best sale, offering our services for smooth transactions and management which eventually strengthens our presence in the segment. CarDekho.com currently works with a network of around 3,000 dealers, of which 1,200 are pre-owned car dealers.”
While the online automobile space is evolving fast in India, the flavor of on-ground retail remains a key to connect with target audience and provide the best brand experience. CarDekho.com used car carnivals are such platforms where customers can actually get the on-ground touch and feel of product, meet the facilitators in person to understand and identify the best deal for them. The idea of replicating the online service in offline medium is well received by consumers in the Indian market as it offers the traditional hint of retail.
Cardekho.com concluded the first such event in Delhi last month with a remarkable customer turn out of over 3000 buyers and excellent sales of cars for respective participant dealers. More than 200 cars were booked on the spot. Following the enthusiastic response from customers, CarDekho.com plans to continue scheduling Used Car Carnivals as they help customers in comparing cars on the spot, getting deals and even get car financing options, all at a single place.
About CarDekho.com
CarDekho.com is a flagship portal of Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. founded in March 2008. CarDekho.com is today India’s most popular and leading auto portal catering to the aspiring buyers, the proud owners, the auto enthusiasts and die-hard fans and dealers of cars across the country. CarDekho is currently drawing close to 11 million visits per month with 7.5 million unique visitors per month. The company recently acquired another top automotive portal Gaadi.com to add to its used car portfolio. Recent winner of the prestigious ‘Website of the Year 2014’ award, CarDekho.com has been presented with various tokens of appreciation by a number of esteemed institutions, including the awards for the ‘Best Car Website 2014’, ‘Most Popular Website 2012’ and ‘Website of the Year India’ given twice in a row – in 2011 and 2012. The portal won its first ‘Best Automotive Website of 2009’ award at the beginning of the journey.
For more details, visit: www.CarDekho.com
About Girnar Software
Girnar Software is an IT company working on offshore products and outsourced software development. It picked up USD 50 Million in a second round of funding and is valued at USD 300 Million. The group company has recently partnered with the iconic Mr. Ratan Tata and will be taking advice for further business enhancement to take the auto classified segment in India to a global level. The group runs other successful portals such as BikeDekho.com and PriceDekho.com. The group’s vision is to be a multi-billion dollar company by 2020 with global footprint by creating innovative products and services.
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]]>The post CarDekho.com announces winners of CarDekho Accolade 2014 appeared first on Core Sector Communique.
]]>Honda City awarded the ‘Car of the Year 2014’
Harley Davidson Street 750 awarded the ‘Bike of the Year 2014’
Bangalore, February 11, 2015: CarDekho.com, the flagship portal of GirnarSoft has successfully concluded CarDekho Accolade – India’s ONLY consumer choice awards in the automobile space. After 17 days of voting, the winners have been announced for the much-awaited awards in the car & bike categories for the year. The total number of votes received from customers for their choice of best car & bike were an overwhelming 3,05,953.
CarDekho Accolade, presented by Snapdeal.com and co-sponsored by HP, provided the ultimate prize winning platform for Car and Bike manufacturers in Indian market. There were 12 numbers of categories for cars and 5 numbers of categories for bikes, which were voted upon by consumers. Additionally a panel of experts conferred the jury awards in 10 categories. Awards were adjudged basis an unbiased online voting system managed through CarDekho.com. Voting took place between 20th Jan 2015 to 5th Feb 2015. These votes were tabulated electronically and winners determined based on the nominees in each category with the highest number of eligible votes.
Talking about this initiative, Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said “We would like to congratulate all the winners of the CarDekho Accolades. With the rising popularity of CarDekho.com we have been able to ensure that the voice of the consumer is captured in honoring the best of cars and bikes of 2014. In turn, it is a privilege for each winning company and brand that consumers have appreciated their offering to the Indian market. ”
Listed Below are the winners of each category of awards:
CONSUMER AWARDS:
Over 3 lakh consumer votes across different categories brought to light interesting facts about the four-wheeler preference in the Indian market. Maruti was a clear winner in the Hatchback category and runner-up in the Premium Hatchback category. Likewise, Hyundai swept the Premium Hatchback category while being a runner-up in the mid-size category. We witnessed a tie in the most spoken about Entry Level Sedan category between the Maruti Suzuki DZire & the Honda Amaze. Toyota bagged the most awards; with its popular Fortuner being the obvious winner in the Premium SUV category & the Toyota Innova emerging as a winner in MUV-MPV category. The consumers voted both these offerings above newer models in the segment. The popular SUV category witnessed a tie between the bold Renault Duster & the powerful Mahindra XUV 500. The two German brands Audi and BMW won Luxury Sedan for Audi A4 and Luxury SUV for BMW X5. The powerful Lamborghini Huracan that caught the eyeballs at the launch was a clear choice for Performance Car of the Year.
Two-wheeler segment was equally competitive this year. Consumer votes for Honda Activa were sky high making it the most preferred Scooter of the Year. Harley-Davidson Breakout led the way up to being the Performance Bike of the Year while Yamaha FZ is the only sought after Premium Bikes.
Car Categories:
Bike Categories:
JURY AWARDS:
Other than the consumer choice awards, an internal jury comprising of automotive experts reviewed, compared, analyzed and then awarded the most prestigious category awards in cars and bikes. Honda City, the most fuel-efficient car and one that comes with exhaustive list of features and offers 2nd best space was chosen as the Car of the Year. Hyundai’s gorgeous Elite i20 won Design of the Year for its great European style. Though when it came to Innovation, the decision became rather tough. Tata Zest emerged a winner in this category for being the most affordable diesel automatic in India while offering features, space and ride quality. For Indian pockets what matters most is Value for Money when cars are concerned. This sought after award was won by none other than the Hyundai Xcent. While there were other categories and much deserved winners for each, one that needs to be highlighted is the Campaign of the Year and the car chosen for this award is again the much talked about Honda Mobilio. The enthusiast Bike of the Year went to the most affordable Harley-Davidson in India, the Street 750.
Besides the winners, the company also declared winners from amongst the voting consumers. A total of 103 people were awarded online shopping vouchers, iPad Minis and a LED TV.
List of all winners can be viewed at: http://awards.cardekho.com
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]]>Girnar Software, parent company of CarDekho.com, valued at USD 300 Million
Bangalore, 28 January 2015: CarDekho.com, the flagship portal of GirnarSoft announced the closure of second round of funding with a raise of USD 50 Million. The funding was led by Hillhouse Capital with participation from Tybourne Capital and Sequoia Capital. The single transaction funding was concluded early this week. Elara Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the transaction. With this the parent company Girnar Software is now valued at USD 300 Million.
Sharing plans about this venture, Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, “Together, CarDekho.com and Gaadi.com are by far the largest players in online auto classifieds space by revenue and traffic in the country. Our vision is to be company with global footprint through our innovative products and services.”
“This is the largest quantum of fund raise in this segment in India so far. We see the second round of investment as an endorsement of our strategy and progress so far. Our revenues have grown three-fold since 2013 when we received our first round of funding from Sequoia, and we are doubling our lead generation Y-O-Y. This is the time we are looking to rapidly expand our business and therefore the funding adds to our fast paced growth in the online auto portal segment” he further added.
Mr. Anurag Jain, COO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, “This is a very exciting time for the company and a high point in the Indian automobile industry. With this funding we have plans to enhance the technology and services of CarDekho.com along with increased focus on brand building and marketing initiatives of the company. As the #1 auto portal of the country, it is also our responsibility to develop the category by providing the best offerings to consumers, best services for dealers and top notch support to OEM manufacturers.”
Commenting on their investment, Mr. David Rhee, a partner of Hillhouse Capital said, “We see tremendous growth opportunities in the online automobile classified market in India. CarDekho, as the clear leading player in this space, is the best positioned to take advantage of this market. We are in the early stages of the development of the auto industry and its transition to online. We are excited to be partnering with such an exceptional management team to continue to build and grow this business over the long term.”
Also, sharing views on this partnership, Mr. Eashwar Krishnan, portfolio manager of Tybourne Capital said, “We have a substantial amount of capital invested across global classified assets and are excited to add CarDekho to our portfolio. We view CarDekho as a direct comparable to Autohome in China (another Tybourne investment), and as the leader in the space, we expect CarDekho to capture a substantial portion of the auto classifieds market in India. We look forward to partnering with the management team as the company moves into its next phase of growth.”
Mr. Shailesh Lakhani, Partner at Sequoia Capital expressed his views by saying, “CarDekho has redefined the purchase experience for car buyers in India. Led by Amit and Anurag, the company has assembled one of the best internet teams in India. We are excited to welcome Hillhouse and Tybourne as new investors to CarDekho and their support as we continue the journey to building a large internet auto company.”
The automobile space has created the largest market value among vertical classifieds and globally public and private companies in the space are together valued at over USD 50 Billion. Given that India is soon to become the third largest car market in the world, CarDekho.com, which is India’s undisputed #1 player, is poised to create significant value for its shareholders.
Hillhouse Capital is a USD 18 Billion fundamental equities investment firm. Hillhouse invests globally across the consumer, Internet, healthcare, and industrials sectors. The firm was founded by Lei Zhang in 2005. Hillhouse’s investment strategy is to work with the world’s best entrepreneurs to build scalable businesses for the long-term. This particular investment in GirnarSoft was led by David Rhee who leads international investments for the firm and will join Girnar Software’s board.
Tybourne Capital is among the most high profile Asia focused hedge funds and manages USD 3 Billion in assets. The fund is led by Eashwar Krishnan and has a special focus on technology, media and internet companies. Based in Hong Kong, Tybourne has made investments across ecommerce (Snapdeal, Uber, Amazon, ASOS), online media (Autohome, Naspers, Tencent) and enterprise software (Palantir) companies.
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]]>Voting lines are open from 20th January’15 to 5th February’15 for consumers to choose the best!
Bangalore, 20 January 2015: CarDekho.com, the flagship portal of GirnarSoft announces CarDekho Accolade – India’s first-ever consumer choice awards in the automobile space. Cardekho Accolades, presented by Snapdeal.com and co-sponsored by HP, are the ultimate prize for car and Bike manufacturers in Indian market. The awards are 100% consumer choice and will be adjudged basis the unbiased online voting system managed through cardekho.com microsite http://awards.cardekho.com.
The awards will be spread across 20 car categories, 12 general, 4 jury awards category and 5 bike categories. The 12 general car categories have been chosen from different segments that include all the new cars launched in 2014 as well as some of the most popular cars in India based on their viewership on Cardekho.com. A panel of experts will judge 4 more categories of jury awards from all the cars launched during calendar year 2014. Cardekho Accolades will culminate into a gala awards ceremony to be held on 10th February 2015.
Talking about this initiative, Mr. Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, GirnarSoft said, “Cardekho Accolades 2014 is in its second edition this year with the first award held in 2012. Our objective to bring in this form of award in Indian auto space was purely to honor consumer choice as we believe it is imperative for any brand / manufacturer to know if the product has hit the right consumer pulse. This is a platform for people to vote for their favorite car or bike based on their product experience. May the best win!”
Consumers can cast their vote for 2014 Cardekho Accolades between 20th January and 5th February, 2015. These votes will be tabulated electronically and winners will be determined based on the nominees in each category with the highest number of eligible votes. Each consumer can participate in the prize winning lucky draw by registering for voting. The lucky winners will be selected post the voting is concluded. The exciting prizes to be won include a Samsung LED Smart TV, two Apple iPad Mini, 50 Flipkart vouchers worth Rs. 27,000 and 50 Snapdeal vouchers worth Rs. 23,000.
The team of dedicated road testers at Cardekho.com have driven the vehicles extensively, sticking to the criteria that most matters to the consumers. Cardekho Accolades are only given to the cars & bikes that set the highest standards in their class each year and only the best of the best gets the accolade of being named CarDekho Consumers Choice Car & Bike of the Year.
Car Categories for Awards:
Hatchback, Premium Hatchback, Entry Level Sedan, Mid-Sized Sedan, Premium Sedan, Luxury Sedan, MUV/MPV, SUV, Premium SUV, Luxury SUV, Super Luxury Car of the Year and Performance Car of the Year
Bike Categories for Awards:
Scooter of the Year, Bike of the Year, Premium Bikes, Entry Level Performance Bike and Performance Bike of the Year
Jury Awards:
Car of the Year, Design of the Year, Engine of the Year, Innovation of the Year, Best Value for Money Product, Best Diesel Car of the Year, Best Indian Auto Advert and Best Facelift of the Year
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