Carbar ramps up to $50 million revenue Case Studies Last Updated: Wednesday 13 December 2023 Australia’s #1 car subscription service Carbar, which offers a go-to destination for Aussie car shoppers looking for more ways to sell, subscribe and buy cars, has put the pedal to the metal on their mission to build the world’s most trusted automotive retail company. Carbar was founded in 2016 by Desmond Hang, Kenneth Teh, Davie Saw and Richie Chen after meeting at the University of Melbourne. Their love and passion for cars motivated them to come up with the idea for an online car buying and selling business in order to offer better ways to access, assess and manage a car, as well as digitise the industry. Through Carbar’s car subscription service, Australians can pay a weekly fee to exclusively use a car complete with insurance, registration, servicing, roadside assistance and no lock-in contracts. Seperate to subscribing cars online, visitors to Carbar’s website can get an instant valuation to trade in their car, book test drives or buy a used cars online or ask Carbar to shop their network of over 1000 dealer partners for a deal on a brand new car. Connecting over challenges It was Australia’s constantly evolving auto industry and Carbar’s own goal to go beyond a virtual dealership that inspired the company to get involved in LaunchVic’s 30X30 Program, after they were referred into it through the Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP). Carbar’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Stackpoole, who participated in the 30X30 Program’s operations stream, found that the program created a time and a space to discuss issues and challenges with other companies in the same situation. “One of the great things that I picked up from the 30X30 Program was, even though we’re all in different industries, the issues that we’re running into are very similar.” Mark Stackpoole, Chief Operating Officer, Carbar Mark added the program also helped Carbar navigate the complexities of a remote workforce. “A large number of our people are not only geographically separated, but also not in the offices. Plus we went through COVID at the same time which adds another degree,” he said. “But I do think that when you’re developing a business, it’s very easy to forget about the people and just focus on the numbers, the product and the delivery. “I personally think the people and culture element of the program was great and we were able to take that moment to sit down and go hang on, we can’t do this without actually having the right people.” An electric future Currently, Carbar has a revenue of $47 million with 63 staff members across its offices in Brisbane and Sydney, as well as its home base in Melbourne. Last year, the team completed a $28.9 million funding round led by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and Seven West Media, with the car subscription company looking to increase its electric vehicle fleet and expedite its business growth and marketing efforts. Carbar CEO and co-founder Desmond Hang said the 30X30 Program had been vital in pinpointing areas in the company they needed to work on. “I think the program has kind of pointed us to areas we needed to work on in terms of company structure and people and culture,” he said. “As a result, this has brought the team together, which was one of the objectives out of the whole program that we committed to. “Our teams are spread predominantly across Melbourne and Sydney, so since we completed the 30X30 Program we have been working together a lot more cohesively.” The next two years will be some of the biggest for the Australian subscription service company, with Desmond tipping that Australia will receive its first flood of second-hand electric vehicles (EVs) in 17 months. “More and more Australians are looking to switch to an EV within the next few years as infrastructure improves and petrol prices continue to climb,” he said. “With our offering to either sell, subscribe, buy cars, we’re well placed to capitalise on this shift and aim to grow our revenue by 5 times.” ABOUT 30X30 As many founders know, some of the biggest pain points to growth are in the day-to-day running of the business, often in the HR, Operations and Finance functions. 30X30 aims to free up founders to focus on key strategic priorities fundamental to your growth, while giving HR, Operations and Finance leaders the skills and exposure to common scaleup challenges and bottlenecks. For more information, visit https://launchvic.org/programs/30×30/.
