Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Carro, a regional used automobile platform, has announced that it has made a strategic investment to Driven Communications. Driven Communications is a Malaysian content production house that handles a network of websites, including Paultan.org, known for its car reviews and news material. This relationship is an important step forward for Carro as it increases its investment portfolio.
Driven Communications’ co-CEOs, Paul Tan and Harvinder Singh, will retain their leadership roles as a result of the transaction. The current board of directors will continue to serve, providing stability and continuity. Furthermore, Driven Communications will retain complete editorial control and decision-making authority, ensuring its independent voice. It is expected that the investment will be completed within two months.
“We welcome Carro’s strategic investment and our shared vision of a better, digitalised, transparent automotive used car ecosystem. Like many businesses, Driven Communications suffered financially during COVID-19. We are thankful for Carro’s future support that will protect our sites that loyal fans have come to love, save jobs, and ensure continued independent reviews,” Tan said.
Meanwhile, Singh commented, “We are thrilled to know that Carro respects our editorial independence, our work with our customers, and encourages us to charge arm’s-length commercial charges to Carro group of companies. With this investment, we are looking forward to achieving profitability and growth beyond Malaysia.”
Aaron Tan, co-founder and CEO of Carro, said, “We have been working with Driven Communications for nearly 2 years. They helped us launch our first Tukar Autofair in Malaysia, and their digital online reach was incredible. Feedback from other automotive participants has been amazing: OEMs and end- customers alike rely on them. It would be a shame that it does not have the right resources and tools to scale higher.”
Strategically, this investment is a proactive move toward encouraging transparency and independence. In recent years, competitors’ acquisition of automobile classifieds and websites has resulted in the barring of various dealers and platforms. Such efforts have hampered healthy competition and limited client access throughout the region, something Carro intends to change. Carro hopes that by making this investment, it will effect good change and create a more inclusive atmosphere that supports fair competition and improves customer accessibility.
Aaron, further explains, “We are a believer that classifieds and other services under Driven Communications should continue to be made available to their existing clientele, as our customers, dealers and competitors – a move we hope all classifieds emulate, given the Malaysian government initiative to break down monopolies and anti-competitive behavior. We also strongly support its role to freely shape industry awareness and disseminate relevant information that will benefit end-customers and the industry, by facts and professional journalism. We aim to maintain a non-controlling stake and welcome other industry participants to jointly invest and support Driven Communications continued growth.”
