Softbank invests €460M in car dealer platform Auto1

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has agreed to invest €460M ($561 million) in Berlin-based online car dealer Auto1. The investment will be made through Vision Fund, a $93bn technology fund that SoftBank and its founder Masayoshi Son manage.

Berlin-based Auto1, founded in 2012, buys cars using its vehicle pricing database to calculate an offer within minutes. It then sells the vehicles on to one of its roughly 35,000 dealerships for a commission.

Auto1 confirmed the investment in a press release saying the deal values the company at €2.9BN. Around half of the investment is being made through the issue of new shares, it added.

SoftBank’s Akshay Naheta is joining the Auto1 Group board following the investment. “Auto1 Group has built a fast growing, data-enabled platform introducing efficiency and transparency to the fragmented used car market, which is worth more than $300BN annually. The SoftBank Vision Fund’s capital and our operational expertise with marketplace businesses will support continued global growth," Naheta said.

The FT reports that Softbank is taking a 20 percent stake in Auto1 via this investment — thouh the same hasn't been confined by any company.

“We believe that the Fund’s deep investment and technology expertise will help us to accelerate our growth as we continue to focus on making the used vehicle market more efficient and transparent," said Auto1’s co-CEO Hakan Koç.

Auto1 says it now sells more than 40,000 cars per month. The company achieved revenues of 1.5 billion euros in 2016.