Sequoia and Lone Pine also signaled plans to invest at least 50 million euros each in Auto1’s impending IPO.
Photographer: Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Photographer: Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Sequoia Capital has agreed to invest in Auto1 Group SE is valued at around 6 billion euros ($ 7.2 billion) ahead of the initial public offering of the German online car trading platform, people with knowledge of the matter said.
American venture capital firm and rival fund Lone Pine Capital reached a preliminary agreement for each purchase about 50 million euros from Auto1stock from the initial investor DN Capital, according to the population, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. They agreed to a six-month blackout period, people said.
Sequoia and Lone Pine also signaled plans to invest at least 50 million euros each in Auto1’s impending IPO, people said.
The move marks a vote of confidence in Auto1, which is supported by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. and the online car buying and selling business. Auto1 said last week that it plans to raise about 1 billion euros from the sale of Frankfurt stock in the first quarter.
An Auto1 spokesman declined to comment. A DN Capital official did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while representatives from Sequoia and Lone Pine could not be found immediately during a public holiday in the United States.
DN Capital became one of Auto1’s first supporters when it invested in the company in 2013, a year after the founding of the German startup, according to its on the Internet network. The venture capital firm previously invested in the application developer Shazam Entertainment Ltd., which created a music identification service later purchased by Apple Inc. Also helped finance the UK online realtor Purplebricks Group Plc and international money transfer service Remitly Inc.