Used-car trading platform Carsome hires chief financial officer

MALAYSIAN used-car trading platform Carsome has added a senior hire to its leadership team with the appointment of Juliet Zhu as its chief financial officer, it said on Tuesday.

Ms Zhu will drive Carsome's growth strategy for core and new business verticals, ecosystem development through partnerships and mergers and acquisitions, and oversee all capital management including equity and debt fundraising.

She is experienced in growth strategy and capital planning after having worked in the investment industry across South-east Asia, China and India. Her experience will strengthen Carsome's position in the competition for capital from global investors, the startup said.

She was most recently at Fosun RZ Capital, a global venture capital under Hong Kong-listed Fosun Group, and has worked at other venture capital firms focusing on South-east Asia, such as Jubilee Capital Management and Cento Ventures.

Ms Zhu spent a total of about five years at these three firms according to her LinkedIn profile.

"The used-car market in South-east Asia is one of the most exciting yet understated opportunities in the region," said Ms Zhu. "The industry is one of the few spaces in the region that is comparable to the size of China with easily more than US$100 billion of untapped market in trading and financing alone."

Carsome said it aims to be operationally profitable in Indonesia and Thailand by end-2020.