UAE-Based Automotive Data Startup AlgoDriven Secures $2M In Latest Funding Round
Dubai-based automotive data platform AlgoDriven has raised $2 million in a Series A fundraising round to enter new markets and increase penetration in existing markets such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Australia, the company told Forbes Middle East.
Founded in 2017 by Glenn Harwood and Jaron Crossland, AlgoDriven allows car dealers, classifieds, banks, and insurance firms to identify and price used cars. Its tools help value assets for loans, insurance policies, price vehicle subscriptions, and leases.
"The company came from myself and my co-founder Jaron's experience in the automotive industry; we built a product that we both wanted to see exist,” AlgoDriven Co-Founder Glenn Harwood stated in an e-mail in response to Forbes Middle East queries.
Both entrepreneurs worked in management roles in the automotive industry's retail segment and saw the lack of data and processes around used cars and trade-ins. “We wanted to build a tool to fix that problem, so that car dealers could make fast, accurate, data-driven decisions about the used cars they were trading-in from consumers or buying.”
AlgoDriven’s main product is EvalExpert, a mobile and web-based platform that allows car dealers to carry out a data-driven appraisal of used cars either online or in person. The product that Harwood and Jaron had initially developed for themselves is now used by more than 600 car showrooms in 13 countries.
The startup has seen a doubling of its revenue over the last twelve months, according to Harwood,
“We analyse millions of vehicles per year through our system for our clients...In some markets such as Australia, almost 1 in every three used cars sold are analysed using AlgoDriven technology.”
The B2B platform that charges dealers a monthly subscription fee to use its tools operates in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Estonia, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, Iraq, Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon. "We've also expanded in South East Asia over the past six months, launching in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong,” adds the co-founder, who indicated that the company is currently focused on expanding its geographical footprint in both Asia and MENA region.
Further, AlgoDriven has also launched API and financial analytics tools for enterprise clients, including banks, insurance, vehicle manufacturers. around historical and future vehicle valuations.
“These tools are used to determine used car prices, but also to facilitate the financial modelling of vehicle leases and subscriptions,” noted Harwood.
The auto-tech platform has dealership clients that represent brands including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
Harwood believes that trends such as online retailing of cars and new ownership models such as subscription, leases, guaranteed buy-backs require vehicle data around vehicle identity and pricing.
In 2018, AlgoDriven graduated from the first cohort of OTF Wadi Accelerator in Muscat, Oman, and in 2019 graduated 500 Startup’s MENA Dojo Series A Accelerator.
This story originally appeared in Forbes Middle East, by writer Nermeen Abbas.