Alex Chesterman raises over £30M for next disruptive digital venture

2 December 2018

First film, then property, now cars…

Serial digital entrepreneur, Alex Chesterman OBE, has raised over £30m in seed funding for his latest start up venture, aimed at transforming the used car market in the UK.

In 2003, Alex disrupted the DVD rental market with the launch of ScreenSelect (subsequently Lovefilm) which was later sold to Amazon for £200m. In 2008 he founded Zoopla to transform the property market by giving consumers better market insights when buying, renting or selling their home and which went public on the LSE in 2014 before being sold for over £2.2bn earlier this year.

Alex’s now has his sights set on the car market, worth over £50 billion per annum with 8 million used cars sold annually in the UK. Over the coming months, Alex and his team will launch Cazoo, a wholly new proposition in terms of transparency, value, selection and experience, allowing car buyers to seamlessly buy, finance or rent a used car entirely online and have it delivered to their door.

The seed funding for the new venture seeking to transform the used car market in the UK has been provided by dmg ventures (the venture capital arm of DMGT plc), Stride Capital, Octopus Ventures and Entrée Capital amongst others. The funds will be used to expand the Cazoo team, platform and brand as well as its operations.

Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Cazoo said, “I’m delighted to announce this investment in my latest venture, Cazoo, and am very excited by the opportunity to transform the used car buying experience, which suffers from poor satisfaction and convenience and is failing to meet the needs of consumers. Buying a car should be no different to buying any other product online today.”

Paul Zwillenberg, CEO of DMGT said, “We are delighted to back Alex again in his new venture. He has an unparalleled track record of identifying and capitalising on opportunities for technology to disrupt whole industries, delivering tremendous value for consumers and shareholders alike. The UK used car market is worth over £50bn pa and is yet to enjoy the benefits of digital transformation that Cazoo will deliver.”

Fred Destin, Partner at Stride Capital said, “Alex is one of Europe’s most accomplished digital entrepreneurs with a great track record of transforming markets and building big businesses and brands that deliver real change and value to consumers. There is a clear opportunity to build a transformational brand and consumer experience in the car market and we are very excited to back Alex on the Cazoo journey.”