Electric vehicle e-commerce marketplace Carla raises €10 million

Sweden’s e-commerce marketplace to lease, buy, or sell an electric vehicle Carla has raised €10 million in a Series A funding round. The company reports that the funding will be used to drive a strategic recruitment campaign with key hires planned in marketing and development, continued development of the company’s infrastructure, and charge up international expansion efforts. To date, the company has raised €13 million in funding.

Launched earlier this year by former head of global online business at Volvo Cars, Patrik Illerstig, and serial entrepreneur Niklas Jungegård, Carla is looking down the road and aims to become the European leader when it comes to the buying, selling, and/or leasing of electric vehicles.

With the Swedish market second only to Norway when it comes to EV’s on the road in Scandinavia, eventually, those owners are going to want to trade up, and Carla wants to facilitate the second-hand market, thereby giving even more drivers the option to ditch the petrol station altogether. Likewise, with Norway running out of petrol-powered cars to tax, Carla’s international expansion plans become readily apparent.

The company guarantees pickup and delivery of an electric vehicle sold on its platform within as little as 72 hours within Sweden. Granted getting a ride from Kiruna to Trelleborg, perhaps a bit more time might be needed.

Not wanting to limit their options, and realising the outright ownership isn’t for all, Carla also offers consumers the option of leasing an electric vehicle via the platform. Their offer provides bonnet to boot coverages including regular service routines, full insurance, winter and summer tires, and vehicle tax all included.

“The appetite for e-commerce is expanding as we speak. The traditional way of buying a car needs a challenger - so here we are,” commented CEO Illerstig. “With Carla, we want to offer everyone who wants to buy, sell or lease an electric car a convenient, personal, and safe alternative. The interest in the business has been enormous since our launch and we’re almost selling cars at a faster pace than we are able to buy them. We are also very proud of the response among our consumers, reflected through our high ratings on Trustpilot.”

Carla’s €10 million round was led by VNV Global, and saw participation from Inbox Capital, Luminar Ventures, Max Ventures, Voi Technologies’ co-founder Fredrik Hjelm, and the founders of Swedish fintech company Anyfin.

“Carla is developing the next-generation way of getting an electric car. The company is challenging the traditional way of buying vehicles with a modern and novel solution. The market for EVs is already huge, and will grow to hundreds of billions of euros - just in Europe. Both Patrik and Niklas have extensive experience in the startup world, across tech and automotive, so if there’s anyone who’s able to penetrate the market, it’s them,” concluded VNV Global’s CEO Per Brilioth.