tech:

taffy

Chinese Used Car Auction Site Uxin Raises $170M

Uxin

One of China’s largest online used car auction company Uxin has raised $170 million from Baidu, KKR, and Coatue. The funding round, which closed on March 15, will be used to expand Uxin’s platform into the B2C used car market, says the company.

Founded in 2011, Uxin employs over 1,000 specialists in 50 Chinese cities, who inspect and certify the quality of used vehicles for sale on Uxin’s platforms. Uxin makes use of its proprietary “CheckAuto” system and advanced vehicle identification capabilities to ensure the quality of vehicles sold through its platform. Uxin offers all buyers a full guarantee, and will refund their purchase within 15 days if they discover undisclosed issues with any vehicle bought through Uxin.

Total transaction volume on the Chinese used car market was approximately $58 billion in 2014, representing 26.03 percent growth from 2013, according to CADA, the China Automobile Dealers Association. CADA reports that 6.05 million used cars were sold in 2014, an increase of 16.33 percent over the previous year. However, new car sales were much higher: 23.5 million new vehicles were sold in 2014. In the same year in the U.S., by contrast, sales of used cars were 43 million, according to Automotive News—more than 2.5 times the number of new cars.

Just in

Vercel raises $250M

San Francisco-based Vercel, a frontend cloud platform provider, has secured $250 million in Series E funding, bringing the company's valuation to $3.25 billion.

Worky raises $6M (Mexico)

Mexico City-based Worky, a provider of HR and payroll software solutions for Mexican companies, has closed a $6 million Series A financing round.

Amazon announces $1.31B investment in France

Amazon has announced a new investment of about $1.31 billion (€1.2 billion) in France, which the company says will lead to the creation of over 3,000 permanent jobs in the country.

Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky to step down — CNBC

Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon’s cloud computing business, will step down from his role next month. Matt Garman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Amazon Web Services, will succeed Mr. Selipsky after he exits the company June 3, writes Annie Palmer. 

Palo Alto Networks, Accenture expand alliance to offer generative AI services

Palo Alto Networks and Accenture have announced the expansion of their strategic alliance to provide new offerings that combine Palo Alto Networks' Precision AI technology with Accenture's secure generative AI services.