Startup Bloom Pilots Blockchain Tech With Several Captives

SAN DIEGO — Bloom, a blockchain-enabled platform that allows customers to choose what personal data to share with lenders, is piloting its technology with several captives, Founder and Chief Executive Jesse Leimgruber told Auto Finance News at the Auto Finance Innovation Summit last week. Bloom was the winner of the event’s annual “DEMOvation Challenge.” At the heart of Bloom’s design is BloomID, […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• May 23, 2019
• Auto Finance Accelerate 2019, Innovation & Mobility, Technology

Australian Startup Eyes Foray Into U.S. Market

SAN DIEGO — CarDeals2Me, an Australian startup that provides car buyers with a price quote that expires within 24 hours, is looking to enter the American market — once it secures a lender partner. “We’re grazing around to hit the U.S. market,” said Chief Executive Shaun Sumaru during the Auto Finance Innovation Summit here today. […]

• Bianca Chan
• May 15, 2019
• Auto Finance Accelerate 2019, Innovation & Mobility, Sales & Marketing, Technology

Deadline Nears for AFN DEMOvation Challenge Submissions

With the deadline looming, now’s the time for startups to apply for a limited number of innovation demos during Auto Finance Innovation Summit 2019, which is slated for May 14-15 at the Omni San Diego. Auto Finance News is holding a DEMOvation Challenge in advance of Auto Finance Innovation Summit 2019 to determine which startups will […]

• Bianca Chan
• March 27, 2019
• Innovation & Mobility, Technology

Executives to Discuss IT Challenges at Auto Finance Innovation Summit

Three distinguished executives from U.S. Bank, CarFinance.com, and Tricolor Auto Group are set to discuss the challenges of information technology at the 4th annual Auto Finance Innovation Summit during a session entitled “Solving Your Biggest Information Technology Challenges.” The discussion will take place on Tuesday, May 14, at 9:45 a.m. PT at the Omni San […]

• Nicole Casperson
• March 13, 2019
• Innovation & Mobility, Strategy, Technology

5 Innovative Auto Finance Moves of 2018

A number of auto finance companies rolled out products and services in 2018 that the editors of Auto Finance News found noteworthy, among them: Honcker Adds Insurance to List of App Services Mobile car buying app Honcker added insurance to its platform this year, bringing the company closer to making the entire car buying experience […]

• Monica Melton
• December 31, 2018
• Innovation & Mobility, Sales & Marketing, Strategy, Technology

AutoNation Leads $146M Funding Round In Vroom

New- and used-car dealership chain AutoNation is the lead investor in Vroom’s $146 million series G funding, announced today. Other investors were T. Rowe Price, L Catterton, General Catalyst, and Fraser McCombs Capital. In October, AutoNation had pumped $50 million into Vroom in exchange for a 7% stake. Vroom CEO Paul Hennessy told Auto Finance […]

• Monica Melton
• December 11, 2018
• Innovation & Mobility, Operations, Strategy, Technology

SunTrust to Add Functionality to Consumer ‘Smart-Portal’ Tool

SunTrust Bank plans to increase functionality and services offered through its consumer-facing “Smart Portal” web tool in the coming three to six months, said Chuck Jones, the bank’s head of national indirect lending. The online service, which took about six months to build, went live in the second quarter. “The portal is an introductory site showing […]

• Monica Melton
• November 29, 2018
• Innovation & Mobility, Operations, Strategy, Technology

Electric Vehicle OEM Offers Drive Motors’ Digital Financing

Electric vehicle startup Karma Automotive has synced up with digital sales platform Drive Motors to power its online checkout option for consumers. Drive Motors, which counts Ally Financial Inc. as a preferred lender on its platform, enables consumers to get fully approved for loans in less than a minute, Chief Executive Aaron Krane told Auto […]

• Monica Melton
• November 22, 2018
• Innovation & Mobility, Sales & Marketing, Technology