Online auto classifieds player CarDekho, which bought Naspers-owned Gaadi.com last month, is in the market to raise up to Rs 300 crore in a fresh financing round, looking for a pre-investment valuation of over Rs 1,500-crore. 

The Sequoia Capital-funded start-up has held initial talks with a set of hedge funds and private equity investors, sources close to the matter told the Times of India, indicating that the transaction may take another few months to close.

CarDekho will join the growing tribe of Indian consumer tech startups with a valuation of Rs 1,000 crore or more, which includes the likes of Bookmyshow, Zomato, Ola and Quikr. 

Sequoia Capital had earlier invested over $15 million for a 20% stake in GirnarSoftware, which owns internet portals CarDekho, BikeDekho and PriceDekho, valuing the Jaipur-based company at over $50 million in its first round of institutional funding. 

CarDekho and Gaadi together claim to be the largest online auto classifieds player by revenue and traffic in the country.

Amit Jain, co-founder & CEO, CarDekho, said, "Our revenues have gone up three-fold year-on-year and our lead generation has doubled after the first ad campaign broke on TV. The Gaadi acquisition has given us a great used-car play, which is exciting a lot of our investors." Jain did not offer details on the fund-raise, but said the combined entity has 10 million unique visitors.

Investors are realizing that auto is the next billion-dollar opportunity in the consumer internet space here in India. Since December last year, when Autohome (China) went public, investors have realized there is a huge opportunity in the auto vertical, Jain told the Times of India. 

Cardekho expects to garner growth through online advertising by car makers, subscription charged to used car dealers and new car sales. Currently, advertising spends by auto manufacturers is estimated at Rs 4,000 crore annually of which 10% is spent online but with the overall pie expected to go up to Rs 8,000 digital may corner as much as 20% of the spends in the next couple of years.