Vehicle shipping fintech RunBuggy secures series A funding
The fintech has raised $19M total, according to Crunchbase
Vehicle shipping fintech RunBuggy secured a series A funding round last week, bringing its total amount raised to $19 million.
The cloud-native platform, which uses artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-powered technology to connect car shippers and haulers with lenders, dealers and digital retailers in an Uber-style marketplace, will use the funding to scale its automotive transportation logistics technology, according to a release.
“We created a network of all 48 contiguous states [where] car haulers can sign up, show their certificate of insurance [and their] certificate of operating authority,” Casey Harmon, senior vice president at the fintech, told Auto Finance News. He added, “The driver turns on the app and they’re able to find any loads that are available in their area or in the city they plan to go to that night” through a user interface similar to Uber drivers picking up fares. Payments are made through Stripe upon delivery.
The funding round was led by Hearst Ventures, Larry H. Miller Company and Porsche Ventures in a sign of continued investor interest in the automotive industry.
AI, ML algorithms connect capacity with need
AI and ML technology is utilized to determine the general route and available capacity that transporters have through the app, which attracts shipping offers from lenders, dealers and digital retailers, Chief Executive Kevin Malik told AFN.
“We have an entire data science team based in San Francisco,” Malik said. “We are using algorithms that they wrote.”
RunBuggy works with lenders such as Toyota Financial Services and others to transport off-lease vehicles and recently repossessed vehicles to auction and also ships those vehicles from auction to the purchasing dealership or retailer, Harmon said. In addition, the fintech works with Shift Technologies to transport vehicles to reconditioning centers and to consumers’ homes, he said.
“There’s no shortage of drivers,” Malik said. “There’s a complete shortage of optimization.”
Ontario, Calif.-based RunBuggy was founded in 2018, and has about 17,000 haulers on its platform.
Auto Finance Summit, the premier industry event for auto lending and leasing, returns October 26-28 at the Wynn Las Vegas. To learn more about the 2022 event and register, visit www.AutoFinanceSummit.com.
