AutoLeadStar’s Aharon Horwitz, Dealer Controlled Leasing, and Luma

Welcome to this episode of The Friday 5 with Steve Greenfield, Founder and CEO of Automotive Ventures, an auto technology advisory firm that helps entrepreneurs raise money and maximize the value of their companies.

This week we have a special guest joining us here on the Friday Five.

A month back it was announced that AutoLeadStar raised a $40 million growth round of financing led by Riverwood Capital.

AutoLeadStar is the automotive retail industry’s most trusted Customer Data and Experience Platform (or CDXP), which unifies dealership’s first-party data and leverages it to create seamless omni-channel marketing campaigns that sell more cars with less cost.

Used by nearly 1000 dealerships across the United States and Canada, including many top 150 dealer groups, AutoLeadStar’s CDXP is advancing dealer tech adoption.

Today, we’re joined here on the Friday 5 by AutoLeadStar co-founder and CEO Aharon Horwitz.

Companies To Watch

Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my monthly industry Intel Report, I showcase a few companies each month, and we take the opportunity here on the Friday Five to share some of those companies each week with you.

Today, we have two companies to watch: Dealer Controlled Leasing and Luma.

Dealer Controlled Leasing

Dealer Controlled Leasing is a turnkey solution for dealers to provide their customers with subprime leasing.

The Dealer Controlled Leasing solution has been built for the new car dealer that wants to dominate and serve their subprime market.

The reason that I love Dealer Controlled Leasing is because it drives significant financial results for their dealers. Dealers create a brand new income source and you can both sell cars to customers you would typically turn down while making money as a lender.

You can check out Dealer Controlled Leasing at www.DealerControlledLeasing.com

Luma

Luma’s software optimizes the charging of electric vehicles and turns them into reliable energy storage.

Luma is a cloud algorithm that connects to and coordinates the charging of Electric Vehicles, turning them into the world’s largest virtual battery.

The reason that I love Luma is that with the rapid adoption of EVs there is going to be growing concern about the electrical grid’s ability to satisfy power demand.

Luma helps turn any EV into a source of power, which should reduce the draw on our electrical grids.

You can check out Luma at www.LumaEV.com

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So that’s your weekly Friday Five.

If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our new DealerFund.

If you’re a dealer who wants to invest in early-stage AutoTech companies that benefit your business, let me know. We are still accepting new investors into the fund.

If you’re interested in joining our Investment Club to make direct investments into AutoTech and Mobility startups with small checks, let me know.

And don’t forget to check out my new book available on Amazon called “The Future of Automotive Retail.”

Thank you for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Friday Five and we’ll see you next week!