RunBuggy, a tech platform designed to connect car shippers and transporters, has secured $19 million in Series A financing from an investor group that includes the Larry H. Miller Company, Porsche Ventures and Hearst Ventures.
The funds will be used for continued scaling of the technology and accelerating product adoption, the company said.
“For the first time ever, RunBuggy allows shippers to seamlessly and securely connect at scale with their existing management systems to integrate car transportation services, reducing cost and improving delivery times,” RunBuggy chairman RJ Romero said in a news release.
RunBuggy chief executive officer Kevin Malik added: “We are tremendously proud of what we have accomplished in a few short years. We have led the industry with technology, transforming dated and analog processes to ensure that both shippers and haulers are equipped to succeed in a rapidly changing industry.
“We are thrilled to be moving into the next chapter with Larry H Miller Company, Porsche Ventures, and Hearst Ventures by our side as partners with deep expertise and a shared passion for simplifying logistics,” Malik said. “We will continue to leverage RunBuggy's leading marketplace technology to accelerate our growth and continue to lead the industry forward.”
RunBuggy was founded in 2018. Since then, more than 17,000 drivers have signed up on the platform, which has delivered to more than 55,000 unique addresses, according to the company.
In this episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, ACERTUS chief executive officer Trent Broberg joins the show.
Broberg talks with senior editor Joe Overby about the current auto transport and logistics landscape, including a look at adapting to smaller carrier loads, the impact of digital buying and selling, plus much more.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
Even in a digital wholesale environment, there are many boots-on-the-ground tasks that have to be completed.
Like transporting the car from buyer to seller.
Along those lines, ACV has launched the “Carrier by ACV Transportation” app that lets car haulers more efficiently manage pickups and deliveries.
The app is available for free to all ACV registered carriers, who can use it to streamline their processes and eliminate the need for paper pickup and drop-off slips.
“Our vehicle carriers are a crucial part of the ACV Auctions marketplace, providing dealers with seamless and efficient options for vehicle pickup and delivery without leaving the ACV Auctions app. We saw an opportunity to leverage our expertise in building digital products to help improve the way carriers engage with ACV,” ACV chief operating officer Vikas Mehta said in a news release.
“Our carriers need digital tools to streamline their business and speed up payment. With the Carrier by ACV Transportation app, we are reducing their liability, digitizing traditional paper processes and providing photographic evidence of the condition of a vehicle at pickup and drop-off,” Mehta said. “In the automotive industry, time is money, and we’re proud to offer digital solutions to all members of the automotive ecosystem in order to reduce friction and add efficiency to legacy, manual processes.”
The app is available in the Android and Apple stores.
This month has been quite transformative for Autosled.
Not only did the company that aims to make vehicle logistics/transportation more efficient and simpler through technology announce that it has completed its Series A funding round and established its board of directors, Autosled also appointed a new chief executive officer, choosing a leader who one of the founders has known since they were in high school together.
Tapped to spearhead its leadership team, Autosled chose former Tesla and SolarCity executive Leon “Lee” Keshishian as CEO not long after naming a new chief technology officer as well as a new vice president of business development and a new VP of data and analytics.
According to a news release, Keshishian joined Autosled initially as a board advisor to assist the company through its strategic planning and funding efforts. During that process, Keshishian was asked to join full time to lead the company into its next stage of growth in automotive logistics.
As CEO, Autosled said Keshishian is focused on talent acquisition, scaling the business for accelerated growth and securing funding. A marketing and business professional with high growth operations experience across consumer products, renewable energy, and logistics, Autosled highlighted that Keshishian is “uniquely positioned” to move the company forward.
“Having known Lee since high school, I was excited to initially get him involved in Autosled’s mission to transform the automotive logistics market as an advisor,” said David Sperau, co-founder and Autosled chief revenue officer.
“After working with him over several months in that capacity, and witnessing his ability to develop strategic plans, hire top talent and position operations for scalable growth, we were excited to have him join us full time,” Sperau continued in the news release.
A former executive at Tesla, Autosled said Keshishian is no stranger to the opportunities available in automotive transport, nor the fast-paced environment of a company that’s in demand.
Early in his career, Keshishian managed brands like Dial Soap, launched new housing developments for Pulte Homes and co-founded one of the first renewable energy companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.
After the acquisition of Clean Currents Solar by SolarCity, Keshishian grew from one location in Maryland to more than 30 facilities and more than 3,000 employees that sold and installed residential and commercial solar and energy storage systems on the East Coast, building the largest region in the largest solar company in America.
After SolarCity was acquired by sister company Tesla, Keshishian integrated his team and supported the expansion of Tesla products, such as EV charging, energy storage and new roofing products. The team also helped build automobiles in California, construct battery lines in Nevada and delivered autos at quarter endings, exposing him to the logistics challenges.
After leaving Tesla in 2018, Keshishian founded an asset management company for SolarCity customers, KWH Care. This quickly merged with Palmetto Solar, bringing Keshishian on board as chief operating officer.
At Palmetto, Keshishian hired and grew its fulfillment and field operations teams, resulting in a 400% growth in two years.
As COVID-19 hit, Keshishian reconnected with his former classmate David Sperau on his new venture, Autosled. Spending time with David and his brother Dan, Keshishian became convinced of the market potential and began advising the company.
“Lee has really helped us prepare for growth, bringing funding partners who share our vision of changing the way automotive vehicles are transported,” said Dan Sperau, co-founder and chief financial officer. “He has helped set us up for an exciting 2022.’’
Funding and board developments
As previously mentioned, Autosled confirmed the closing of a $5 million Series A round as the company continues its mission to revolutionize the automotive transport marketplace.
According to another news release, leading the round was Lyndon Rive, who co-founded SolarCity (now Tesla Energy) in 2006 along with his brother Pete and cousin, Elon Musk.
Joining Rive in the Series A investment was Andrew Leto, founder of freight procurement marketplace Emerge. Leto invested through Arcturus Venture, his single-family investment office that specializes in supporting tech enabled startups within the transportation and logistics sectors.
Following Rive and Leto in this round was Dave Baggett, current CEO of Inky Technology and former COO and co-founder of ITA software, an airfare pricing engine platform acquired by Google in 2010 (now Google Travel).
A group of individuals from the Georgetown Angel Investor Network, represented by Marc Suhlam, also participated in the round.
The company said this funding brings Autosled’s total capital raised to more than $7 million.
“When Lee first described Autosled’s goals, I saw the opportunity,” Rive said. “After dealing with Tesla’s own vehicle delivery pain points, I knew firsthand the market challenges that needed to be addressed.
“Dan and David’s retail automotive knowledge, combined with Lee’s operational execution, made the investment decision a no-brainer,” Rive continued.
In addition to completing its Series A round, Autosled appointed John Stewart to the board of directors.
Stewart founded MapAnything in 2006, a data mapping tool for location-based services that was acquired by Salesforce in 2019.
The company explained Stewart’s knowledge of location intelligence plays a vital role in Autosled’s future product roadmap as it continues to optimize its platform.
Stewart has continued to invest and serve as a board advisor for various start-ups, such as Palmetto and Emerge.
“Ushering in transparency through the use of technology is the key to reinventing transporter logistics,” Leto said. “The chance to bring these improvements to the automotive sector with Autosled was a natural extension to my other ventures.
“Lee and the team have the potential to build an incredibly impactful solution. We are already receiving extremely positive feedback from both dealerships and transporters who are utilizing the Autosled platform,” Leto went on say.
Autosled reinforced its leadership team this week, as the company aims to make vehicle logistics/transportation more efficient and simpler through technology.
Joining Autosled as vice president of business development is Bart Schuster, while coming aboard as vice president of data and analytics is David Darden.
While Darden has arrived from outside the automotive industry, Schuster is intimately familiar with wholesaling and retailing vehicles since he has more than 24 years of automotive experience — 13 years in retail dealerships and 11 years working for various OEMs.
Most recently, Schuster worked as a regional general manager for Nissan, guiding the region’s dealers to increase customer satisfaction and profitability.
Autosled said Schuster’s expertise in successfully developing and implementing both business relationships and customer loyalty comes at a pivotal time for the company’s nationwide growth.
In this role, Autosled said Schuster will oversee its nationwide sales expansion efforts, strategic OEM partnerships and the Federal sector division.
“Bart’s background in logistics, retail dealership operations and OEM regional management provides the exact type of experiences that are pivotal as Autosled continues to scale,” Autosled co-founder and chief revenue officer David Sperau said in a news release.
“His deep-rooted connections with dealer principals throughout the United States, as well as his reputation within the Nissan, Volkswagen, and Audi families has already proved instrumental in Autosled’s growth,” Sperau continued.
Meanwhile, Darden joins Autosled as a seasoned data engineering and analytics leader from outside of automotive. Autosled highlighted Darden brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry with companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies.
Before joining Autosled, Darden was the director of business intelligence engineering at Big Fish Games, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of casual games. He built the big data platform to drive business decisions and analytics with data-driven decision-making as a core company competency.
After Churchill Downs acquired Big Fish, Darden also designed and led distributed teams to create new data platforms and products for other companies across the corporation.
Darden then refined his skills as the director of data and analytics at Palmetto, where he led the team that built a modern data platform to support a clean technology software and fulfillment platform.
Autosled said Darden’s expertise will be a vital part of creating the next-generation automotive transportation logistics platform at the company to continue its expansion in the $18 billion vehicle transport industry.
“David’s extensive experience in data analytics and customer gamification are things that Autosled wants to leverage in order to help build programs and incentives that match the needs of our customers — both shippers and transporters,” Sperau said.
“The experiences that he brings, having worked with marketplaces, online gaming companies and Microsoft, make him a great addition to Autosled’s leadership team,” Sperau went on to say.
Two firms in the transportation industry started the new year by working together.
On Tuesday, Ship.Cars, a leading automotive transport technology company, announced a partnership with CarrierSoft, an automotive transport software provider.
According to a news release, CarrierSoft has integrated its Broker TMS platform, MegaBee, with Ship.Cars’s Market, enabling brokers to post loads directly from MegaBee to the load board, potentially providing thousands of new load opportunities for carriers and brokers.
The companies highlighted the new partnership is designed to create a seamless flow for brokers to contract with the tens of thousands of auto carriers on the Ship.Cars platform.
By leveraging the Ship.Cars suite of products, MegaBee users now have access to new tools and customer features. These include the ability to negotiate on the platform and receive automated notifications for carrier offers and status updates on loads processed post-dispatch.
CarrierSoft mentioned that its broker customers benefit not only with greater access to carrier capacity, but also improved visibility. Customers can receive automated dispatch process updates and timely status emails with the Electronic Bill of Lading (eBOL) attached, providing greater accountability and insight into each shipment’s condition throughout its journey.
“CarrierSoft’s MegaBee platform is a popular choice for brokers in the industry and offers a powerful, but user-friendly CRM tool,” Ship.Cars vice president of strategy Eftim Eftimov said in the news release.
“Through this partnership, Ship.Cars increases load capacity on the digital marketplace where the MegaBee broker network can now directly post thousands of loads, greatly expanding their access to our vast network of carrier partners and improving their overall user experience,” Eftimov continued.
In addition to granting access to thousands of carriers, Ship.Cars pointed out that its features include tracking loads in real time, negotiating and confirming bookings online, instant dispatching and enhanced electronic proof of delivery — all without the need of phone calls.
As one of its auction locations received accolades for hiring older workers, Cox Automotive is continuing what the company said is its drive to simplify the automotive logistics supply chain and enable clients’ success.
Last week, Manheim Logistics announced that BATS CRM is the new preferred broker customer relationship management solution partner for Central Dispatch.
The company explained BATS CRM was selected due to its advanced technology, support for mobile devices and all-inclusive toolset for Central Dispatch, which is one of the nation’s largest transportation marketplaces that connects shippers and transporters to keep the automotive supply chain moving
“In today’s wholesale market, having a highly-efficient automotive logistics supply chain has never been more important,” Manheim Logistics vice president Joe Kichler said. “We are committed to helping our clients be as effective as possible — and that starts with having the right technology in place.”
Central Dispatch explained this new integration comes at just the right time. With tight inventory and record wholesale values as Kichler also mentioned in this episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, dealers are buying vehicles via digital wholesale channels more than ever.
These circumstances have led to an increase in the number of vehicles being transported — as well as an increase in the average distance vehicles are shipped.
So far this year, Manheim Logistics has seen the average distance of vehicle moves double, going from 225 miles in Q1 2020 to 460 average miles in Q3 2021.
With brokers moving more vehicles longer distances, Central Dispatch acknowledged that having the right technology to connect into the nation’s largest transportation marketplace is essential.
As the preferred broker CRM of Central Dispatch, the company said BATS CRM has built unique integration capabilities that are not currently available in other CRM solutions, enabling clients to:
• Post and update orders without browser plug-ins or email parsers
• Benefit from automatic order status updates as carriers mark them as picked up or delivered
• View all carriers that are available on Central Dispatch directly in BATS
BATS CRM explained that it offers clients the ability to automate common, repetitive tasks, such as email notifications and lead pricing, to save time and provide higher level of service to your customers. It also natively can support work from mobile devices, so regardless of where clients are, they can still run their businesses.
According to the news release, everything from an electronic document signing platform to automated messaging campaigns, invoicing, secure credit card storage, fully managed pricing engine, reporting, commission tracking and more are included in the BATS system.
Tom Kustura, chief executive officer of BATS CRM, said the migration to BATS CRM for Central Dispatch broker clients will be easy.
“We are very excited for the opportunity to grow the BATS platform via this new integration with Central Dispatch. This is another acknowledgment of the hard work and dedication that our entire team has given to our customers. BATS is committed to continued development of cutting-edge solutions that will help our customers run more efficient and profitable businesses,” Kustura said in the news release.
Manheim Philadelphia honored with the American Legion’s Employer of Older Workers Award
In other news from Cox Automotive, the American Legion recently honored Manheim Philadelphia with its Employer of Older Workers Award for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The annual award gives recognition to one employer in each state for an outstanding record in the hiring and retention of older workers (age 55 and older).
The company said Manheim Philadelphia was selected for the award in 2019, but the presentation ceremony was delayed until September due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization aimed at advocating patriotism, honor and continued devotion to fellow service members and veterans.
The company said Manheim has a strong track record for hiring and employing older workers, both at Manheim Philadelphia and across its more than 75 locations nationwide, with 36% of its workforce age 58 or older.
“We could not operate our businesses without the assistance of all of our team members, but certainly not without our older workforce,” Manheim Philadelphia general manager Charlie Pollina said in a news release. “They are the heart and soul of our operations. They come to work day in and day out, good weather and bad, and just get the job done.”
Joe Kichler, vice president of Manheim Logistics, joins the Auto Remarketing Podcast in an on-site episode from Used Car Week earlier this month.
Kichler and Auto Remarketing senior editor Joe Overby talk about Manheim's partnership with DHL, the transportation space and much more.
Stay tuned for more on-site episodes from Used Car Week in coming weeks.
To listen to this episode, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
Finalized just ahead of Used Car Week, Ship.Cars and Montway Auto Transport announced a partnership on Friday.
The automotive transport technology firm and third-party logistics brokerage company said in a news release that their customers will gain increased exposure to extra carrier capacity with additional focus on visibility and automation in the post-dispatch process.
As used-vehicle prices surge and the automotive transport industry faces significant supply chain challenges and disruption, Ship.Cars’s goal is to simplify and streamline the entire transport process for all stakeholders with user-friendly technologies, including LoadMate for Shippers, Market Load Board and Carrier Transport Management System (TMS).
“Today’s disruptive supply chain environment exemplifies an auto transport industry that is ripe for innovation,” said Eftim Eftimov, vice president of strategy at Ship.Cars. “Montway’s partnership demonstrates how vital integrated TMS tools are for the future growth of leading auto transport companies.”
As part of the agreement, Montway and its customers will leverage Ship.Cars’s full suite of technology products, including LoadMate, Market Load Board, Carrier TMS and a new customer portal.
In addition to granting access to thousands of carriers, LoadMate’s features include in-app chats with carriers and drivers, AI-based tools for accurate load pricing and tracking loads in real time.
Market Load Board can enable bookings to be negotiated and confirmed online, provides instant dispatching and delivers enhanced electronic proof of delivery – all without the need of phone calls.
Carrier TMS can provide real-time updates for vehicle hauling partners, robust tools for load management, advanced car hauler dispatch software, and modern tools for payments and invoices.
“Further integration with the Ship.Cars platform enables Montway to provide our customers and trusted carrier partners with new tools for even faster and more dependable transport services,” Montway Auto Transport president and chief executive officer Dimitre Kirilov said in the news release.
“Our company’s significant growth in the past few years highlights how important user-friendly technologies are for providing excellent customer service while seamlessly managing thousands of auto transport shipments each year,” continued Kirilov, whose company is among the exhibitors at Used Car Week, which begins on Monday at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.
To learn more about Ship.Cars, visit Ship.Cars, and to learn more about Montway Auto Transport, visit montway.com.
Obviously, vehicles cannot be transported to and from auctions and dealerships without someone to load them and drive the hauler to the intended destinations.
United Road is boosting its efforts to ensure that key person is readily available to meet vehicle transportation demands.
This week, United Road president and chief executive officer Mark Anderson announced the expansion of the company’s guaranteed pay benefit to all drivers: first year, tenured and rehires.
Anderson explained that guaranteed pay gives drivers a level of financial assurance and security with the knowledge that they can count on a consistent level of income. He said it’s one way the company can support its professional drivers who are key to United Road’s ability to deliver for its customers.
“Our drivers haul in all kinds of weather including through and around hurricanes, construction zones, under challenging circumstances — from the pandemic to the chip shortage,” Anderson said in a letter to company drivers. “We recognize that many elements of car hauling are out of a driver’s control, including the variability of earnings.
“Guaranteed pay is a mind-easing benefit, a safety net that can help mitigate the downswings of pay volatility,” Anderson continued.
For drivers in their first year, United Road said, guaranteed pay is $2,300 per pay period, which over the course of a year equates to a pay of at least $60,000.
The company said tenured drivers — professionals with more than one year of employment — will earn a minimum of $2,500 per pay period, or at least $65,000 annually.
Typically, United Road said company drivers earn well-above these thresholds with the top quartile of tenured drivers earning an average of more than $100,000 annually.
To qualify for guaranteed pay a driver must:
— Be an active employee and operate a seven-car hauler or larger truck
— Be available for and accept all assigned work within a current two-week pay period
— Work a minimum of 100 hours during a pay period
“We piloted the benefit earlier this year with first year drivers and saw a dramatic increase in driver satisfaction and retention,” Anderson said. “It was a natural to take this pay stabilization benefit company-wide with our tenured and returning drivers. Our goal is to be the employer of choice for professional drivers. These men and women are the ‘front door’ of our customers’ experience with United Road.”
United Road employs approximately 900 professional drivers and has a network of nearly 1,000 independent contractors and 5,000 third party carriers.
For more details about becoming a drive for United Road, go to this website.
