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§ Private Profile · Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Online platform for buying, selling, financing, and managing used cars and commercial vehicles, focused on reconditioning and eliminating fraud in.
Kavak has raised $1.9B across 7 funding rounds.
Key people at Kavak.
Kavak has raised $1.9B in total across 7 funding rounds.
Kavak is a Mexico City, Mexico-based company that operates an online platform for buying, selling, financing, and managing used cars and commercial vehicles in emerging markets. The company functions as a full-stack marketplace, purchasing vehicles, reconditioning them in proprietary workshops, and handling all transaction stages to mitigate fraud and enhance accessibility in markets prone to high transaction risks. Valued at $8.7 billion, Kavak has raised over $1 billion in funding and operates across 8 countries, including a 1% share of Mexico's 5 million annual used car transactions, and has expanded to the Middle East. Notable investors include SoftBank, Greenoaks Capital, and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Founded in 2016 by Carlos García Ottati, Lorianne Garcia Ottati, and Roger Laughlin Carvallo.
Kavak has raised $1.9B in total across 7 funding rounds.
Kavak's investors include David George, Allen & Company, Foxhaven Asset Management, Lingotto, Stelac, WCM, General Catalyst, Addition, Crane Venture Partners, Drive Capital, Eka Ventures, Felix Capital.
Kavak has raised $1.9B across 7 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $300.0M Series F in February 2026.
Kavak is a leading technology company revolutionizing the pre-owned car market by providing a digital platform to buy, sell, finance, and manage used vehicles with guarantees and certifications.[1][2][3] It serves individual consumers in emerging markets, solving inefficiencies like fraud, opaque pricing, and complex paperwork in the fragmented used-car industry through data-driven algorithms, AI inspections, and end-to-end services.[1][2][4] With over 7,000 employees and operations in 10 countries including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Türkiye, Chile, UAE, Colombia, and Peru, Kavak has achieved unicorn status (first in Mexico at $1B in 2020) and reached an $8.7B valuation, making it Latin America's most valuable startup while expanding globally.[1][2][3][5]
Kavak was founded in 2016 in Mexico City by Carlos López, who experienced firsthand the frustrations of buying a used car—marked by pain, stress, and inefficiencies in a market unchanged for 50 years.[1][3] The idea emerged from addressing the fragmented used-car sector's vulnerabilities, such as risks, fraud, and limited financing access; by 2016, it opened its first doors in Mexico City after conceptual roots in 2014.[1][2][4] Early traction accelerated in 2020, becoming Mexico's first unicorn with a $1B valuation and launching in Argentina, followed by expansions to Querétaro, Monterrey, Puebla, and Guadalajara; 2021 brought Brazil and Turkey, 2022 added Chile, Colombia, and Peru, and it built Latin America's largest reconditioning center in São Paulo.[1][2]
Kavak rides the wave of digital transformation in emerging markets' automotive sector, formalizing informal used-car markets plagued by irregularities through e-commerce and fintech integration.[1][2][4] Timing aligns with rising internet penetration, smartphone adoption, and demand for transparent transactions in Latin America and beyond, where traditional dealerships dominate but fail on trust and efficiency.[2][3] Favorable forces include abundant used-car inventory post-COVID, AI advancements for inspections/routing/credit, and investor appetite for "digirati" models blending tech with consumer services.[2][5] It influences the ecosystem by pioneering serverless ML on AWS for scalability, enabling replication across regions, and boosting financial inclusion via data-based lending.[2]
Kavak is poised for deeper penetration in existing markets and further global expansion, leveraging its tech moat to enter new regions like more of MENA or Asia while innovating in adjacent services such as insurance or mobility.[2][3] Trends like AI-driven personalization, serverless scaling, and embedded finance will accelerate growth, potentially pushing valuation beyond $8.7B amid e-commerce booms in emerging economies.[2][5] Its influence may evolve from regional disruptor to global standard-setter for used-vehicle marketplaces, empowering consumers and formalizing industries—just as it began by transforming one founder's painful car-buying experience into a seamless, joyful reality.[1][3]
Key people at Kavak.
