From spreadsheets to scalability: Inside Cars24’s digital overhaul

Gurugram-based autotech startup Cars24 that is celebrating ten years of its business this year, has evolved its operations over the years. It has shifted from manual processes that include tracking bids via phone, spreadsheets and messages, to a fully digital-first model, a process that got accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic period that disrupted physical operations and forced companies across the spectrum to look at alternative ways to survive and grow.

In an interaction with TechCircle, Abhishek Gupta, AVP – BI & Strategy, shared how the firm’s digital transformation eliminated data silos, streamlined workflows, and enabled faster decision-making.

Today, customers can list vehicles online with minimal interaction, while dealers bid in real-time auctions. Transactions are largely completed online, supported by DIY pricing tools and a mobile app for standardised photo-based inspections.

Originally a used car marketplace, Cars24 has expanded into new car sales, multi-brand servicing, and financial services. With multiple interlinked business units, including procurement, retail, and a non-banking financial company, the firm depends on a strong digital foundation to scale efficiently and reduce reliance on manual operations.

AI foundational to digital transformation

At Cars24, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a central role in making car buying and selling safer and more efficient by automating tasks, evaluating vehicle condition, and streamlining operations.

“It became clear that integrating AI meaningfully couldn't be a side task for existing teams, it needed specialised expertise. To this end, we created a dedicated AI & Innovation team,” according to Gupta.

Notably, of the 7,000 employees at Cars24, about 500 are part of the tech team.

Recently, Cars24 launched an AI-powered car discovery chatbot, Autonaut, which handles real-time customer queries. Gupta claims that it has halved call-back rates, improved agent efficiency, and enhanced every key customer interaction point by 15–20%.

Other key AI-driven products include CarTruth, which provides detailed vehicle history using ownership, service, and accident data; Orbit for real-time valuation, challan tracking, and smart alerts to support financing and compliance; and Inspection App, a tool for car health assessment.

“We process around 100 million data points daily, including calls, videos, and customer behaviour, to ensure smooth transactions. Our goal is to scale this to 5 billion data points daily,” said Gupta.

Technology partnerships

Cars24 has partnered with AI data cloud provider Snowflake to address the scalability and governance challenges.

“As we've scaled across India, Australia, and the UAE, the sheer volume and diversity of our data, from consumer behaviour to transaction logs and medical reports, demanded a modern and scalable data infrastructure. This is why we chose Snowflake as our central data warehouse,” said Gupta.

“Previously, fragmented tech stacks across business units led to data silos, slow analytics, and high maintenance overhead. With Snowflake, we’ve unified data across all verticals, speeding up analytics and enabling faster, data-driven decisions,” he explained, adding that its automated scalability reduces maintenance, freeing up teams to focus on enrichment and personalisation.

Snowflake’s native multi-region storage also ensures compliance by keeping data within its country of origin. It lets internal teams and external partners collaborate on live datasets without compromising security or compliance.

Cars24’s broader tech ecosystem further complements this setup. It uses AWS and Google Cloud for its server and compute needs, SAP HANA for financial automation, Tableau for data visualization, and Fivetran for seamless replication of data from various sources into Snowflake.

Building in-house vs outsourcing

Building technology solutions in-house or outsourcing is a long-standing dilemma for many enterprises. While in-house development offers more control and direct communication, outsourcing offers more cost-effectiveness and access to specialised expertise.

But the real solution may not be in a straightforward either or choice.

“Going live quickly is critical for us, not because everything is perfect, but because real feedback from customers and partners only comes at scale. Early launches help us refine our products faster. Over the past 5–6 years, we’ve built internal platforms that accelerate product rollout, and we complement them with technologies like Snowflake to enable rapid go-lives,” he said.

When a new technology presents itself, Cars24 first assesses whether existing solutions can be tweaked, whether it can be built in-house or sourced from a partner, to move fast.

If it’s feasible, the firm prefers launching quickly, even if the solution isn’t fully tailored, as long as it scales. Once it has clarity from real-world usage, Cars24 typically shifts toward building a more custom, long-term solution.

“It’s a continuous build-vs-buy decision, and our principle is clear: buy to move fast, build to scale and optimise,” Gupta concluded.