AutoFi, a US-based provider of online automotive sales and financing technology, received $85m in funding today from investors including Santander Holdings USA, a subsidiary of financial services firm Santander.
Venture finance provider SVB Financial Group and venture capital firm Crosslink Capital filled out the round, which valued the company at nearly $700m.
Founded in 2015, AutoFi has built an online platform which connects automotive retailers and lenders to provide car buyers with easy and convenient access to financing options and instant point-of-sale credit approvals for their purchases, streamlining the process of buying a vehicle online.
The company claims to have experienced four consecutive years of 100% revenue growth and it doubled its employee base to 220 in 2021. It will use the funding to boost the size of its engineering and customer facing teams.
AutoFi counts multiple corporates and automotive manufacturers among its investors. Carmaker BMW provided an undisclosed sum through its BMW i Ventures unit in early 2020, following an undisclosed amount in 2018 from Santander InnoVentures, the subsidiary of banking firm Santander later spun off as Mouro Capital.
Automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Company’s financial services arm, Ford Motor Credit Company had taken part in AutoFi’s $10m series A round the previous year alongside Crosslink Capital and fellow venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau.
As more consumers have eschewed visiting car dealerships in favour of finding and executing automotive transactions online – particularly during the covid-19 pandemic – companies using technology to finance such transactions have popped up to support such purchases.
Peers that have raised substantial amounts in recent months include Lendbuzz, which secured $60m in equity funding and $300m in debt financing in a June 2021 round including financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s MUFG Innovation Partners unit.
Oodle Car Finance, which provides instant pre-approved financing and lets customers pay for cars online, had raised over $210m in debt and equity financing as of 2018 while other companies in the space include Blinker and MotoRefi.
AutoFi’s chief executive Kevin Singerman told Forbes: “[The funding] allows us to focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well and because we are working in an ecosystem where there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different partners it is so important we build a company that plays well with everyone in the sand box.
“The hard part is you take what they do in the normal offline world and bring it online in a way that works for them and their business model. I think preserving that independence and this capital really helps us solidify that.”
