NEW DELHI: Online automobile marketplace Droom on Wednesday announced that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped all charges against its founder and chief executive officer Sandeep Aggarwal, in an insider trading case from 2013.
Aggarwal was charged by the DOJ and sued by the SEC in July 2013, relating to events that took place in July 2009 when Aggarwal was a Wall Street analyst, years prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey in 2011.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also reached a civil settlement with Aggarwal relating to the same case. Aggarwal informed that he paid civil penalty of $32,500 which was levied by the SEC. The bar on being associated with any investment advisor, broker and securities analysis continues.
Aggarwal remarked, “I am very grateful that the US justice system agreed that the dismissal of all charges against me was the right and just result. Now, we can put this permanently behind us and focus on implementing our long-term vision to permanently change how automobiles are bought and sold in the 21st century.” Aggarwal, a serial entrepreneur, founded Droom in April 2014.
The Gurugram-based start-up claims to be the country’s largest online automobile platform and has plans to get listed at Nasdaq next year when the company achieves $3 billion gross merchandise value (GMV).
Currently, the company claims to generate $1.2 billion in annualised GMV and $32 million in net revenue which it aims to double to $63 million by end of 2020. According to Aggarwal, if everything goes as planned, Droom will become operationally profitable (monthly basis) by the end of this year.
At present, the company is working towards securing its pre-initial public offering (IPO) funding and expanding its presence to South Eastern nation and in the Middle East. Aggarwal further said growth opportunity in used car market remains high despite new car sales falling to record low in the last 18 months.