Carsome Group, which operates a Southeast Asian used-car online marketplace, has raised almost $300m in a financing round led by funds linked to Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

65 Equity Partners and SeaTown Holdings — both backed by Temasek — and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) are among investors that participated in the fundraising by Carsome, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Malaysia’s most valuable technology start-up is planning an initial public offering in the US later this year, one of the people said. Representatives of Carsome, 65 Equity Partners, SeaTown and the QIA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Carsome started gauging investor interest in November and was seeking to raise about $200m, Bloomberg News reported at the time. In a September statement, it said it mopped up $170m in a series D2 round at a $1.3bn valuation.

Founded in 2015, the company has expanded into Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. The company works with more than 8,000 dealers and handles more than 100,000 transactions on an annualised basis, according to its website.

Source: The Edge Markets

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