Shift Technologies is expanding geographically and increasing revenue as it preps to go public in 2021, Founder and Co-Chief Executive George Arison told Auto Finance News.
Before the online car retail and finance platform is IPO-ready, it will need to nearly triple its revenue. “You need to achieve a certain amount of revenue to feel comfortable in the public market, and for us it’s doing something like $300 [million] to $400 million in revenue the year before IPO,” Arison said. “Last year we did $135 million, which roughly tells you how much we have to grow to get to that number.”
Shift also has its eye on increasing volume pre-IPO. Shift measures marketshare by looking at how many used cars are sold in a given month and seeing what percentage of Shift transactions account for that total.
Last year, the company grew 45% to 50% in existing markets — selling 8,500 cars — Arison said. He anticipates achieving similar marketshare growth this year. However, to be “IPO-able,” Arison said that the company will need to sell 15,000 to 20,000 cars.
In September 2018, Shift secured $180 million of funding, in a round led by Lithia Motors. To date, the startup has raised $300 million. With the fresh capital, Shift will look to grow in existing markets, expand into new territory, and offer more products. Last week, the startup entered Portland and Sacramento, bringing its geographic footprint to nine cities across California and Oregon.
The company’s financing platform works as a marketplace model with several banks and independent lenders, such as Capital One Auto Finance, Ally Financial, Santander Consumer USA, and Westlake Financial Services.
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