The newest operating partner with Automotive Ventures knows a thing or two about mergers and acquisitions.

On Monday, the early stage mobility-focused venture capital firm announced the addition of Phil Battista to its operating partner team, joining Andrew Gordon, Chip Perry, Brian Reed and Paul Whitworth.

Automotive Ventures called Battista “one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in the automotive technology space,” saying this appointment further demonstrates the firm’s focus on attracting top talent to identify the best companies, drive outsized growth, and realize superior returns for investors.

Battista is a 30-year automotive industry veteran who founded Superior Integrated Solutions in 1998. He has held multiple positions within the dealership world including as a dealer principal and as a creator of the software MenuVantage and ServiceBook Pro (now CDK Service Edge).

In 2015, Battista launched Darwin, a patented prescriptive sales workflow for F&I product sales. He sold the company to J.D. Power in 2022, where he’s most recently served as president of dealership technologies.

Battista and his team grew Darwin to its current base of 10,000 dealers and 16,000 active DMS integration customers.

“We are thrilled to welcome one of the industry’s most accomplished and successful veterans to Automotive Ventures as we continue to strengthen the capabilities of our growing team,” said Steve Greenfield, founder and CEO of Automotive Ventures.

“Phil’s deep expertise across automotive strategy, digital innovation, and scaled entrepreneurship will be invaluable as we continue to deliver differentiated outcomes for both our portfolio companies and our limited partners,” Greenfield continued in a news release.

Reflecting on this latest endeavor, Battista said, “After spending 30 years as an operator in the digital auto space, I’m excited to have this opportunity to help Steve grow his venture firm, which has created an incredible brand, has made a number of strong investments and is seeing excellent deal flow.

“Along with Steve and his team, I look forward to leveraging my experience to identify and accelerate the growth of early-stage autotech and mobility companies,” Battista went on to say.