Autozen, an online marketplace that aims to make it easier for car owners to sell their vehicles, has emerged from stealth mode after raising $4.2 million CAD in seed financing.
The startup refused to disclose its investors when reached for comment.
Autozen is currently “finalizing” the launch of its consumer-to-business (C2B) auto retail platform.
Founded in 2020, Autozen claims its platform will offer an easier, faster, and more transparent way for car owners to sell their vehicles compared to the traditional car sale process. The startup plans to use this initial investment to build its team’s capabilities.
The startup aims to give car owners “the best valuation possible.”
“It’s baffling how selling a car in 2021 is as aggravating as it was 20 years ago,” said Olivier Vincent, CEO and co-founder of Autozen. “We’ve consistently heard from consumers that this industry has been stubbornly low tech for too long.”
“With this initial investment, we’ve assembled a team with vast tech, product and go-to-market capabilities to address sellers’ frustrations and finally bring much-needed innovation to this industry,” he added.
The startup aims to make it easier for buyers to acquire used vehicles and create competition among buyers to give individual car owners better valuations.
“We will put your car to auction and have all of our buyers compete against each other to give you the best valuation possible,” Vincent told BetaKit.
Car owners begin by providing Autozen with some basic information on their vehicle and receive a valuation estimate. On this end, Vicent said that the company has partnered with CarFax and Canadian Black Book to incorporate third-party valuation data points.
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Vincent called speed and efficiency a key selling point of Autozen for car owners. He said that Autozen aims to deliver a firm offer to sellers within 24 hours of listing.
In addition to the new funding, Autozen announced three new hires: former president of Payfirma Kalle Radage as COO, former VP of engineering at Recon Instruments Xichi Zheng as CTO, and former Postmedia Network executive Kevin Bent as business development manager.
Vincent said that Autozen’s web and mobile platform is currently “in the private alpha and beta phase,” and is hosting its first auction today.
The company has already onboarded 50 buyers and plans to launch its platform in the
Greater Vancouver Area between now and spring 2021. In the long term, it expects to see demand in the Greater Toronto Area.
“The goal is to have a nationwide ambition in a short period of time,” said Vincent.
Image by Arvid Skywalker via Unsplash
