British unicorn Cazoo refuels for $630 million

Recently listed British unicorn Cazoo has announced that it has raised $630 million in convertible loan notes from investors, led by Viking Global.

The funds raised will supplement Cazoo’s current liquidity position and will provide a material multi-year runway for the Company to be able to execute on its aggressive expansion strategy.

In pursuit of this strategy, the company has embarked on a rapid expansion strategy:

• In 2020, the business sold c. 12,000 cars and generated revenues of £162 million.
• In 2021, the business sold c.34,700 cars and generated £665 million of revenue.
• In 2022, the Company expects to sell over 100,000 retail units and to generate £2 billion+ of revenues.

Cazoo shares were up 5.6% in pre-market trading.

Jonathan Moyes, Head of Investment Research at Wealth Club said: “Hot on the heels of its recent acquisition of Brumbrum, Cazoo has shown it has not lost its ability to raise large sums from investors, despite the recently stockmarket volatility. There is still ample appetite from investors to back rapidly growing businesses.

The Cazoo brand is now recognised by over 75% of the UK population and following its recent strategic acquisitions across Europe and this new funding, Cazoo now has the platform and the resources to aggressively roll out across Europe’s largest user car markets, even if this means running at a substantial loss for some years.”