THE CAROUSELL JOURNEY
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March 2012
• Idea for Carousell was pitched at Startup Weekend Singapore 2012. Working demo was built in 54 hours – Carousell emerged as the overall winner.
April 2012
• Was first rejected then finally awarded Venture Ideation Grant (after a literal elevator pitch) of SGD$7,000 by NUS Enterprise to develop the Carousell idea further.
May 2012
• Full-time development of Carousell began out of Plug-in@Blk 71. Siu Rui dropped out of Honours year in university, Marcus left Oracle and Lucas began juggling school with full-time work. Days in the office started at 10.00am, and ended at 11.53pm to catch the last train back home. Work continued till 2.00am from home.
August 2012
• Carousell iPhone app was launched in Singapore on 13 August 2012. It was ranked second on the list of Top Free Lifestyle Apps in Singapore on the third day of launch.
January 2013
•Awarded ACE Start-ups Grant of SGD$50,000; Carousell Pte Ltd incorporated.
• Announced partnership with STClassifieds, Singapore’s leading online classifieds site, in a cross-posting collaboration to help Carousell users reach a larger pool of prospective buyers effortlessly. Carousell was picked for its convenience in creating listings and its foothold in the Singaporean youth community.
July 2013
• Announced partnership with SPH Magazines that created Singapore’s largest community marketplace for women.
November 2013
• Raised SGD$1M in seed funding from Rakuten, Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups, Danny Oei Wirianto and serial entrepreneur, Darius Cheung.
December 2013
• Carousell marketplace hit 1 million listings.
August 2014
• Carousell marketplace hit 5 million listings.
November 2014
• Raised USD$6M in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India. Investors that participated in this round included Rakuten Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups and serial entrepreneur, Darius Cheung.
December 2014
• Carousell landed officially in Taiwan on 4 December 2014; Malaysia on 9 December 2014; and Indonesia on 16 December 2014.
November 2015
• Launch of Carousell’s web platform.
• Carousell marketplace hit 26 million listings.
January 2016
• Launch of Carousell Groups.
June 2016
• Carousell Hong Kong hits 1 million listings, celebrates official launch in Hong Kong.
August 2016
• Carousell announces USD$35M in Series B funding led by Rakuten Ventures, together with Sequoia India, Golden Gate Ventures, and 500 Startups.
October 2016
• Carousell Philippines hits over ½ million listings, celebrates official launch in Philippines.
February 2017
• Carousell Motors (now known as Carousell Autos) officially launches.
May 2017
• Carousell Bumps and Coins launches in Singapore.
June 2017
• Carousell Bumps and Coins launches in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
October 2017
• Smart Listings launches.
• Carousell marketplace hits 100 million listings globally.
November 2017
• Payments and Shipping features launches in Taiwan.
• Carousell Pro tool launches for property agents and employers listing on Carousell.
January 2018
• Carousell Spotlight launches in Singapore.
March 2018
• Carousell Spotlight launches in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
May 2018
• Carousell announces USD$85M in Series C funding co-led by Rakuten Ventures and EDBI, with participation from existing investors, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures and Sequoia India, as well as new investor, DBS.
• Carousell Autos officially launched in Hong Kong.
June 2018
• CarouPay (now known as Carousell Protection) launches in Singapore, Carousell’s first integrated payment system developed together with DBS, Stripe and Visa.
January 2019
• Price Suggestions and Image Search launches in all markets.
March 2019
• Carousell marketplace hits 196 million listings and 71 million items sold globally.
April 2019
• Carousell announces US$56M investment from Naspers, through their classifieds arm, OLX Group. Carousell also acquires OLX Philippines as part of the deal.
August 2019
• Carousell celebrates 7th anniversary and a milestone of 250 million listings.
September 2019
• CarouBiz launches in Singapore.
October 2019
• Carousell Rights Owners Programme (CROP), which tackles counterfeit listings in collaboration with brand partners, launches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines.
November 2019
• Carousell announces investment from Telenor Group and merges with 701Search entities – Mudah, Cho Tot and OneKyat.
January 2020
• Carousell Protection launches in Malaysia.
April 2020
• Launches COVID-19 support initiatives regionally, such as US$2 million worth of free ads to non-profit organisations, as well as partnerships with government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore, Hong Kong Productivity Council and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to support SMEs in respective countries.
May 2020
• Carousell Property launches in Hong Kong.
June 2020
• Launch of digital showroom for Carousell Autos in Singapore.
September 2020
• Carousell announces US$80M investment from a consortium comprising Naver, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and NH Investment & Securities.
February 2021
• Carousell Group launches Carousell Media Group, a dynamic full-service marketing platform that offers advertising solutions across Carousell Group’s family of brands – Carousell, Mudah.my, Cho Tot and OneKyat.
April 2021
• Carousell Group launches Carousell Auto Group to power Mudah Auto in Malaysia, Cho Tot Xe in Vietnam, Carousell Autos in Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore with transactional platforms OneShift and Revo Financial.
September 2021
• Carousell Group announces US$100M investment from STIC Investments.
October 2021
• Carousell Group acquires Ox Street, one of the fastest growing end-to-end marketplaces for authenticated sneakers and streetwear in Southeast Asia.
May 2022
• Carousell Group acquires Refash, Singapore’s largest omnichannel fashion recommerce retailer.
July 2022
• Carousell Group acquires Laku6, the leading AI-first end-to-end electronics recommerce platform in Indonesia.
FEATURES
Snap-to-List
Listing an item for sale on Carousell is super simple. Sellers need only to provide a listing photo, item title and price for their item to appear on the marketplace. If more info is needed, sellers also have the option to fill in further details such as an item description or a preferred meet-up location.
We now use artificial intelligence to speed up the listing process, by surfacing the relevant categories, titles and even the prices of similar items, when you list an item. These suggestions are achieved through the use of computer vision and machine learning from our large database of listings and transactions.
Chat-to-Buy
Carousell’s in-built private messaging system enables users to communicate entirely within the app, thus negating the need to exchange personal information such as phone numbers or email addresses, in order to complete a deal. The chat now comes with read receipts as well as online and typing indicators to help users close deals faster. We’ve also implemented contextual chat replies, where our AI can suggest chat replies based on the context of the conversation, such as when negotiating price, arranging a meetup or delivery.
Feedback
Buyers and sellers can leave feedback on each other’s profiles after a transaction has been completed. This helps to build a secure and trusted community of users as both buyers and sellers can assess the credibility of the dealing party prior to entering a transaction. By striving to provide positive experiences for the users they interact with, buyers and sellers can build their credibility on Carousell over time.
Personalise your marketplace
Shoppers can shop only the items they want to see buy tapping ‘follow’ on their favourite sellers’ profiles. Users can also ‘like’ their favourite item listings to show their appreciation or to keep track of whether an item’s price has changed or if it has been sold.
Collections
A banner on the main ‘categories’ page offers users a more curated experience when they shop on Carousell. Collections are ever-changing and managed by the Carousell team to provide a themed shopping experience.
Carousell Press 