Against the backdrop of a cooling venture market, online used car trading platform Guazi.com Inc. says it has raised another staggering US$250 million to fund its growth, six months after completing a US$204.5 million fundraising in March.
No investors were named in both rounds, as the company announced the latest news in a press conference in Beijing today.
The company was valued at US$1 billion at the last funding round in March. The new fundraising comes at a time when venture investors are backing off from betting on business models that rely on burning cash to gain market share.
Founded in 2014, Guazi is led by Yang Haoyong, founder of Ganji.com, which merged with rival 58.com last year.
Yang said that Guazi's online platform currently has over 120,000 used cars on sale from 179 cities in China. It also has 1,500 automobile assessment professionals assisting transactions.
Guazi's mobile app has daily active users of 1.25 million, double the amount claimed by the market's second and third largest player, RenRenChe and Youxinpai, according to data from iResearch.
Guazi's CEO Yang Haoyong also laid out the company's strategic objectives, including reaching monthly transaction volume of over 100,000, expanding automobile financial services and building up big data capabilities.
The company also plans to invest RMB1 billion in branding and marketing efforts, after hiring Chinese movie star Sun Honglei as brand spokesperson.
Last week, RenRenChe announced a US$150 million new funding round from Prometheus Capital, China Minsheng Investment and other investors.