FinTech company commands 10% of automotive franchise market by helping dealers thrive in new digital-first economy; expands executive team with 4 industry stalwarts
A silver lining of the COVID-19 cloud has been rapid innovation within the automotive industry despite showroom closures. Car dealers have quickly responded to consumer preferences for a low-touch buying experience. Digital car sales and finance platform AutoFi (www.autofi.com) has seen its customer growth increase by 125% so far in 2020. To support this expansion, AutoFi is adding four technology and auto industry veterans to its leadership team.
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AutoFi now counts greater than 10% of the franchise dealer market among the customers for its digital retail platform. AutoFi is transforming automotive purchases by providing dealerships with all the tools they need to streamline and complete customer vehicle sales online.
The AutoFi ecommerce platform is built for digital automotive sales by integrating with a dealer’s existing website and supporting its current business processes. Vehicle buyers apply for financing, receive real-time offers from lenders, and select vehicle protection products to finalize a deal digitally, providing almost entirely touchless vehicle sales no matter how or where the sale process began. AutoFi offers comprehensive dealership training and full integration management so dealers can stay focused on their daily business of fulfilling customer needs.
“2020 has been a disruptive year presenting so many unpredictable obstacles. We’re committed to helping our customers overcome these challenges through technology innovation,” said Kevin Singerman, chief executive officer and co-founder of AutoFi. “Digital sales is the fastest-growing segment of automotive retail, and we welcome our new leaders to join us in our mission of helping dealers thrive with digital sales and financing.”
Transforming in a Shutdown
The COVID-19 pandemic has pulled forward the adoption of digital purchase experiences. Remote sales and a streamlined in-store process are likely to remain crucial components of total sales as dealers acknowledge ongoing consumer anxiety and practice recommended health safety guidelines.
AutoFi creates a seamless digital retailing experience for vehicle shoppers, whether in the dealer showroom, using their own devices, or from the comfort of their homes (or anywhere else).Since the pandemic took hold in March, AutoFi has seen monthly submitted credit applications on its platform increase by 80 percent.
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AutoFi’s recent milestones include:
- More than 10% market share of franchise dealers — more than 125% growth so far in 2020
- Supporting 2 of the top 4 online-only dealers by using the AutoFi finance API to power their digital purchase process
- Automated lender decisions for over 40 bank, captive, and specialty lenders
- Checkout experience served to customers 45 million times on 420,000 unique vehicles in August to date
- More than 100 integration partners
- 45% team growth in 2020 in support of dealer customers and product investment
- Named by IBS Intelligence among the “5 promising FinTechs disrupting the Automotive market”
- Top “Diamond” prize in the 2020 Dealers’ Choice Awards program (third consecutive win in the digital sales and F&I category)
Expanding Leadership Team
To support the company’s continued growth, AutoFi has expanded its executive team with two auto industry veterans, along with two highly experienced technology executives.
- Matthew Orlando, vice president of major accounts and strategic partnerships
Matt joins AutoFi after more than 13 years with RouteOne, a joint venture created by Ally Financial, Ford Motor Credit, TD Auto Finance, and Toyota Financial Services. He most recently served as RouteOne director of major accounts and director of OEM and partner strategy, focused on business growth in the areas of credit, eContracting, digital retail, and open integration strategy. Earlier in his career, Matt served in leadership positions within Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, United Technologies, AlliedSignal, and Motion Industries.
- Michael Helgesen, vice president of dealer success
Mike comes to AutoFi with a history of industry leadership. He most recently departed Cox Automotive as senior divisional manager for northeast and enterprise partnerships. He created a new Cox division to improve retail performance and operational effectiveness of digital retail applications for over 175 dealer groups, OEM partners, and major account groups. Prior to Cox, Mike served as chief operating officer of Joe Rizza Ford and of Grossinger Auto Group. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly 17 years with KIA Motors Americas, finishing as director of central region operations.
- Julia Link, vice president of marketing
Julia’s two decades of experience at fast-growing technology companies encompass product marketing and management around business intelligence, security, and SaaS platforms. Julia was previously head of product marketing for the website security business unit of Symantec. She has held roles with SAP, McAfee (Intel), Jaspersoft (TIBCO), and Hyperion Solutions (Oracle).
- Ilan Dar, chief information security officer and vice president of engineering
Ilan offers more than 20 years of experience leading teams across engineering, product management, and information security functions. Prior to joining AutoFi, he was the vice president and chief information security officer at risk management software platform company Sphera. He previously held leadership roles to drive product innovation and organizational efficiency at Avaya, LiveOps (Serenova), KACE (Dell), and Sybase (SAP).
