Carousell opens new regional HQ in Singapore as it heads into second decade

SINGAPORE: Online marketplace Carousell on Friday (Sep 22) announced the opening of its new regional headquarters in Singapore at start-up and incubator space LaunchPad@one-north.

As the company enters its second decade, group CEO and co-founder Quek Siu Rui said it remains on track to profitability and focused on existing markets.

“In the past year, we’ve been very busy making quite a number of acquisitions,” he said, adding that the company’s main focus now is integrating them into the Carousell platform.

“We’re so thankful to be so well capitalised now that we can just stay laser-focused on execution.” He added that the company remains “cautiously optimistic” and prudent with its investments.

Carousell, founded in Singapore in 2012, has offices across eight locations in Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It entered the “unicorn” club of start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion in 2021.

According to Carousell, the group has 80 million new listings annually and monthly active users number in the tens of millions.

Carousell was among the many tech companies that carried out global cost-cutting lay-offs after the pandemic, letting go of 10 per cent of its total headcount, or about 110 people, at the end of 2022.

The lay-offs were a difficult but “very deliberate decision to focus on a few critical priorities and build an enduring company”, said Mr Quek on Friday.

Among Carousell’s acquisitions last year were Indonesian electronics re-commerce platform Laku6 and local second-hand apparel retailer Refash.

The new headquarters, dubbed Carousell Campus, brings various subsidiaries together in one location and also integrates their capabilities for authenticating and inspecting products, the company said in a media release.

This includes inspections for the Carousell Certified programme launched earlier this year, which allows users to buy second-hand products that have been checked for quality and authenticity.

Under the programme, authorised partners inspect and authenticate products in certain categories – such as cars, luxury bags, mobile phones and sneakers in Singapore – before they go on sale in Carousell official stores.

During a media visit to the headquarters, staff demonstrated how they differentiate fake and authentic luxury bags and sneakers, and use artificial intelligence technology to inspect second-hand mobile phones.

To address trust and confidence issues, Carousell also introduced Singpass identity verification for listings in certain categories, such as property, earlier this year.

The company is exploring extending such checks to the tickets category, requiring ticket sellers to perform Singpass verification before they can list, Mr Quek told reporters.

Carousell also introduced escrow payments and additional buyer protections through its “Buy” button rolled out earlier this year.

“It boils down to trust and convenience as the biggest barriers stopping potential buyers and sellers of second-hand, and that’s really what we’re trying to do over the next decade,” said Mr Quek.

He added that Carousell hopes to contribute to the growth of Singapore’s start-up eco-system with its return to LaunchPad@one-north, such as through collaborative events with local start-ups and small businesses.