Montréal-based electric vehicle (EV) sales platform Lyteflo has closed a $3-million CAD seed round to help car dealerships sell EVs more effectively.
“EVs are here to stay. They’re too big to fail.”
Ryan Osten
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup aims to demystify the EV buying process for consumers and dealerships through its EV Revenue Platform, which it says offers a suite of tools for sellers to access frequently requested information about EVs.
Montréal-based Diagram Ventures led the all-equity, all-primary round through its ClimateTech fund. Whitecap Venture Partners and Amplify Capital also participated. Both are Toronto-based venture capital (VC) firms that target seed and Series-A stage investments. The round closed Dec. 3, adding to an initial $700,000 secured in simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) funding.
“We’re focused on delivering tools that are moving the needle for [dealerships] and helping them sell more EVs more profitably,” Ryan Osten, co-founder and CEO of Lyteflo, said in an interview with BetaKit.
Osten was previously the COO of Gubagoo, a messaging and e-commerce platform for car dealerships. After the company sold to Reynolds & Reynolds in 2021, Osten sensed an opportunity to assist dealerships in pivoting their sales efforts to EVs.
“Dealerships need new strategies in order to sell these vehicles, and that’s where we are filling a gap and providing a solution,” Osten said.
In both Canada and the US, government subsidies and incentives can vary widely between regions, putting an informational load on the consumer and seller, the company says. Lyteflo aims to solve that problem by displaying vehicle data such as fuel and maintenance savings, available incentives, charging capacity, and more, directly on the dealership website.
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The EV Revenue Platform relies on first- and third-party data from government sources and private partners to answer some of consumers’ most frequent questions, Osten said, such as how much charging the vehicle will cost them per month.
Lyteflo said it would put the funding primarily toward product development and new features for its software platform, including EV battery testing and health reports. It also plans to roll out a hardware product in the second half of this year that captures data about an EV battery’s cell health. The information would be fed into Lyteflo’s existing software for used vehicle sellers and buyers to access.
Zero-emission vehicles reached record sales in Canada in Q3 2024, accounting for more than 15 percent of new vehicle registrations, according to data from Statistics Canada. Over half of new EV registrations were in Québec, which also leads the nation in the number of EV charging ports.
However, some federal incentive programs, which provide a key value offering for Lyteflo, are in jeopardy. Canada’s Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program, which gave buyers up to $5,000, was suspended this week. Québec announced it was temporarily pausing an equivalent program this February due to a lack of funds. The incoming US administration is also planning to kill its consumer EV tax credit, Reuters reported.
Despite the uncertainty of incentives, EV sales are expected to grow steadily within the next decade, following the Canadian government’s pledge to hit 100-percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.
Osten said that pulling back Canadian incentives in the short term may impact affordability for consumers, but in the medium to long term, EVs are going to make up a growing share of the landscape due to improved infrastructure and lower prices.
“EVs are here to stay,” Osten said. “They’re too big to fail.”
The startup currently employs seven people and said it’s looking to hire as it focuses on onboarding its first dealership clients. It has also partnered with US company DealerOn to bring its website integration software to American dealerships.
Feature image courtesy Michael Fousert via Unsplash.