Now is ‘not a great time to go public’ says carwow CEO James Hind

Carwow founder and chief executive James Hind has told AM that the online car marketplace might go public to raise more funds but added that “now is not a great time”.

The business recently announced plans for an “exciting and ambitious phase of growth” following an injection of $55m (£41.5m) in funding to scale its Sell Your Car division, a £17.2m funding boost from investors including ITV and Channel 4 and the announcement of further investment from Geely’s Volvo Car UK brand.

And Hind told AM that the business could go public in a further bid to boost funding as it looks to scale-up its operations.

“I think we might consider going public at some point,” Hind said, but added: “We see it only as a just a way to raise more capital.

“We've raised quite a lot of money privately at the moment from venture capital firms, private equity firms, car manufacturers.”

There has been a hive of recent activity in the publicly-listed businesses in the automotive retail space.

Cambria Automobiles was returned to private ownership by chief executive Mark Lavery last summer, while fellow AM100 car retail group Marshall Motor Group will also exit the London Stock Exchange following its much-anticipated acquisition by Constellation Automotive.

Cazoo, meanwhile, has suffered well-documented share price woes on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hind said that “broadly speaking” it was “not a great time to go public”.

Hind was speaking to AM for the latest in AM’s ’10 minutes with…’ features series, which will feature in the June edition of the digital magazine, which will reach subscribers early next week.

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