Malaysian unicorn Carsome keen to expand in Southeast Asia

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's first unicorn, online used-car platform Carsome, has advanced by leaps and bounds since launching in 2015 and is now looking to strategically position itself in a Southeast Asian market it sees as growing to an estimated $270 billion by 2025, CEO Eric Cheng told Nikkei Asia. Founded by Cheng and Teoh Jiun Ee, currently chief executive of Carsome Academy, the group's automotive training institute, Carsome occupies a unique position in a country where the regional boom in unicorns -- startups valued at more than $1 billion -- in places such as Indonesia and Singapore has largely passed it by.