KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Carsome Group, which operates a used-car marketplace in South-east Asia, today confirmed that it received US$290 million (approximately RM1.22 billion) in a recent financing round.

The Malaysian tech star is now valued at approximately US$1.7 billion (RM7.15 billion).

"Carsome plans on using the proceeds raised in this round of financing to accelerate investment in people, product, technology, data capability, infrastructure, and regional expansion of its retail brand, Carsome Certified, across key markets in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand,” it said in a statement today.

The confirmation follows Bloomberg’s report of the funding last Friday, which cited unnamed sources.

The funding came from several investors, with the largest contributors being 65 Equity Partners and Seatown Private Capital Master Fund — both subsidiaries of Singapore state investment firm, Temasek Holdings — as well as Qatar Investment Authority,

Other investors include Mediatek, Sunway, Gokongwei Group, YTL Group, and Taiwan Mobile.

Carsome was founded in 2015, and by September 2021, grew to become Malaysia’s highest-valued technology start-up.

It touts itself as the "largest integrated car e-commerce platform” in South-east Asia.

According to its website, Carsome works with over 8,000 used-car dealers and manages more than 100,000 transactions per year.