London online car sales start-up Cazoo has raised a further £25m in funding before it has even launched.
The firm as now totalled £55m in investment for a launch planned later in the year, and will use the latest funds to invest in marketing and operations.
Among the investors in the latest funding round were previous investors including Octopus Ventures, dmg ventures, Stride.VC, and Entrée Capital.
The soon-to-launch website hopes to allow consumers to buy a car from thousands listed on its website and have it delivered to the buyer’s door in as little as 48 hours.
The firm, which is now 100 strong, was founded nine months ago by Alex Chesterman OBE.
Chesterman’s successes include having founded film rental service LoveFilm, which sold to Amazon, and property market Zoopla, which sold for over £2.2bn last year.
Cazoo also boasts a senior team which includes the former CFO of PaddyPowerBetfair, a former Made.com CTO, and the former CCO of MoneySuperMarket.
“We are delighted to have closed this further funding round, giving us significant firepower to fuel our growth after we launch later this year”, said Chesterman.
“We are assembling a world-class team and looking forward to transforming the used car market by delivering UK consumers the best car buying experience in terms of selection, value, quality and convenience.”
Lord Rothermere, Chairman of investor parent DMGT said, “We are really impressed with the progress that Cazoo has made in such a short period of time.
“Alex’s passion for using technology to improve consumer experiences and his ability to execute are second to none.
“We are delighted to be backing Cazoo to deliver a wholly new and better approach to buying a used car and to disrupting this £50bn market.”
Fred Destin, Partner at Stride.VC said, “Buying a used car is a poor consumer experience and Cazoo is reimagining it from the ground up to be delightful.
“We’re excited to be doubling down on our support for Alex and the exceptional team he has assembled as they build a transformational consumer brand and deliver the best experience for used car buyers across the UK.”