ACV Auctions said it has secured $150 million in Series E funding, noting that the new capital will go toward ACV Auctions’ investment in technology and data-driven products that it says will help dealerships source and sell used vehicles.
Wellington Management Company and Fidelity Management & Research Co. led the investment in ACV Auctions, a dealer-to-dealer, online automotive marketplace. The investment included existing investors such as Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Tribeca Venture Partners.
ACV said it will also use the new capital to expand its North American footprint and grow the ACV Auctions’ current team of more than 1,000 employees.
“This round of funding enables us to continue significant investments in our mission to be the most trusted and transparent way for dealers to buy and sell used vehicles,” ACV Auctions chief executive officer George Chamoun said in a news release.
Chamoun added, “Over the past four years, we have listened to what dealers need to fulfill their objectives and our marketplace addresses key areas in the overall customer experience, such as delivering consumer live appraisals, offering instant liquidity of wholesale inventory, providing a trusted source to purchase inventory and transporting vehicles quickly.”
Addressing its investment in technology and data-driven products to help dealerships source and sell used vehicles, ACV said the ACV Vehicle Condition Inspection and Report “has become the gold-standard for the automotive industry.”
The company said patent-pending products include Virtual Lift, which is an imaging tool that captures the undercarriage of vehicles.
ACV said that solves an industry blind spot.
The company also mentioned Audio Motor Profile, a tool that it says captures a clear audio clip of the vehicle’s running engine to expose its true condition.
Advanced Filters and Run List are additional recently launched features that customers have requested, and ACV says that with those tools, dealers can better search for and evaluate in advance vehicles that best fit their needs.
ACV Auctions says it now offers services in 140 territories across the country, with more than 400 full-time vehicle condition inspectors.
Vehicles listed on ACV Auctions are accompanied by reports to provide insight into each vehicle’s condition, the company said. Using patent-pending, proprietary tools to deliver what the company describes as an objective-yet-thorough view of the vehicle, each condition report is written by an ACV Auctions-trained inspector. The company says the ACV Auctions marketplace delivers robust and reliable reports of each vehicle that it says go “above and beyond paint meter readings and fluid levels.”
Manheim says that its introduction on Wednesday of personalized vehicle suggestions within its Manheim Market Report valuation tool means time savings for dealers, who will see “highly relevant and immediately available inventory” on a page that they use daily.
Manheim says that dealers are seeing more of a need to use smart technology in making the best buying and selling decisions during a time of what it describes as “growing margin compression and uncertainty in the market.” The company is introducing the personalized vehicle inventory to help dealers accomplish this.
M LOGIC, a Manheim group of advanced decisioning products that the company launched earlier this year to bring Cox Automotive data to the remarketing industry, drives the suggestions.
Manheim says tens of thousands of dealers use the Manheim Market Report each year as a source of wholesale vehicle values to research which vehicles to buy and how much to pay for them. When dealers seek MMR valuations for a given vehicle, they will see — in a carousel-style format — up to 12 similar vehicles available for sale.
To access detailed information about the vehicle, dealers can click on a specific similar vehicle. Or, they can choose to view additional similar vehicles for sale within the Manheim Marketplace. Manheim says that by using those features, dealers can find and compare relevant vehicles quickly. That allows them to make more informed buying and selling decisions, Manheim said.
Using millions of vehicle transactions, along with vehicle data, MMR values vehicles given their specific mileage, condition, exterior color and region. The digital site displays the base MMR and adjusted MMR values and also includes AutoCheck and Carfax quick links. Manheim said that places important decision-making information at clients’ fingertips, on mobile and desktop channels.
The company says the addition of M LOGIC suggested inventory to MMR “raises the bar in wholesale valuation tools.” According to the company, it gives Manheim’s clients an edge in bringing success to their businesses.
“Personalized vehicle inventory is our latest innovation from the M LOGIC suite of decisioning products and is live today for all MMR users,” M LOGIC associate vice president Ben Flusberg said in a news release.
Flusberg added, “Our MMR digital site receives 75 million valuation requests each year, so we know it’s a tool that dealers regularly use to complete their research. At the same time, a common theme we hear from dealers is that it’s hard to find the right inventory, especially within digital channels.”
He also noted, “By presenting relevant vehicles at the moment dealers are doing their research on MMR, we're bringing the right inventory to them at the right time. It's part of Manheim’s commitment to continually help its clients become more efficient and profitable. And based on the strong digital engagement we've seen so far, we know this new feature is really helping them."
As a wholesale vehicle valuations tool, MMR uses millions of vehicle transactions and vehicle data to value vehicles given their specific mileage, condition, exterior color and region, according to Manheim. The digital site displays the base MMR and adjusted MMR values and also includes AutoCheck and Carfax quick links. That, according to Manheim, places important decision-making information at clients’ fingertips over mobile and desktop channels.
Dealers will experience this new functionality by logging into Manheim Market Report and using their Manheim credentials.
