AutoGravity is an Irvine, California-based financial technology company that is the creator and operator of a vehicle financing and leasing mobile app of the same name. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Andy Hinrichs, who continues to serve as chief executive officer, and its app launched in 2016. The app offers users finance and leasing offers for new and used vehicles.
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Overview
AutoGravity was co-founded by Andreas "Andy" Hinrichs, as an independent company in October 2015. Hinrichs continues to serve as chief executive officer. The financial technology company is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has 60 employees, as of March 2017. The company's 40,000-square-foot offices are located in Irvine Spectrum's Sand Canyon Business Center. Co-founders Nicholas Stellman and Serge Vartanov serve as AutoGravity's chief operating officer and chief marketing officer, respectively. Lukas Wickart is the company's chief financial officer, and Sheng Wang serves as the company's chief technology officer.
AutoGravity's app provides users finance and leasing offers for new and used vehicles, in a variety of brands and models from thousands of dealerships. The app is available on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, and as a web application. It has been downloaded nearly 500,000 times in the United States, as of July 2017. AutoGravity works with dealers and lenders, and earns revenue from them when users take out loans. A "white label" version of the app allows dealers to incorporate their own branding. The app has been credited for simplifying the financing process, saving users time, and having a higher sales conversion rate than direct sales. AutoGravity is available in all U.S. states, except Nevada, and has helped facilitate approximately $500 million in financing.
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History
AutoGravity was founded in Irvine in October 2015, and started with four employees and $50 million in seed money. The company received seed funding from the Daimler Group. AutoGravity's app soft launched in mid 2016, and completed a four-month beta phase in December. AutoGravity was one of six companies named "Best of Show" at FinovateFall 2016. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA, a subsidiary of Daimler Group, became AutoGravity's first vehicle finance company to start offering loans, in October 2016.
AutoGravity collaborated with Fletcher Jones Auto Group and Mercedes-Benz dealers to launch the FJ Drive app in November 2016. Fletcher Jones dealerships in Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Northern California, and Southern California were added to AutoGravity's network. AutoGravity employed 53 people at the time, and provided users with vehicles from 43 manufacturers. In late 2016, AutoGravity was named a "Top Workplace" by the Orange County Register. The company had partnerships with 500 franchised dealerships and more than 100,000 app users in California by the end of the year.
AutoGravity confirmed plans to expand nationally, into 46 U.S. states, in January 2017. The app was not available for service in Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, or Pennsylvania, but provided at least four lending partners in all other U.S. states. Daimler announced plans to further invest in AutoGravity in February 2017. By March, AutoGravity's app had been downloaded more than 200,000 times by users in 46 U.S. states. The company had partnerships with over 20 lenders, including First Investors Financial Services and Westlake Financial Services. AutoGravity and Black Book partnered to improve trade appraisal offerings to users. In April, AutoGravity announced a partnership with CarFinance.com to provide users with more financing options. At that time, AutoGravity's network included more than 1,400 dealerships, and was accessed by more than 250,000 users.
Frost & Sullivan presented its North American Frost & Sullivan Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award, which recognizes companies that have "demonstrated excellence in devising a strong growth strategy and robustly implementing it", to AutoGravity in May 2017. By then, the company employed more than 60 people and its app had had been downloaded over 350,000 times in 48 U.S. states. In mid 2017, AutoGravity launched its app in New Jersey, becoming the 49th state in which the company operates. The company also launched its first national television advertising campaign. VW Credit announced plans to invest $30 million in AutoGravity in July.
References
Further reading
- Penn, David (January 11, 2017). "Finovate Debuts: AutoGravity Unveils the Future of Auto Financing". Finovate.
- Zulovich, Nick (March 3, 2017). "How AutoGravity's financing app is giving 'empowerment' to dealers & consumers". Auto Remarketing.
- Prescher, Martin (June 24, 2017). "How AI will play a major role in the auto industry". VentureBeat.
- Moran, Dylan (August 11, 2017). "Meet AutoGravity: the startup that is revolutionizing the FinTech Industry". HuffPost.
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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