Legacy Automotive Capital raises $500M and We Predict gets acquired by an industry powerhouse

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, I am back on the road, and en route from a 20-Group meeting in Missoula, Montana traveling down to Miami. Never a dull moment in this industry.

Legacy Automotive Capital

First up on this week’s Friday Five, Legacy Automotive Capital, founded back in 2019, has raised $500 million dollars to fuel dealers making acquisitions. The company has an additional $1 billion dollars in funding commitments that could come later.

They aim to deploy the $500 million dollars over the next three years by assisting dealers in acquiring property in buy-sell transactions or providing capital via sale-leasebacks of dealerships.

J.D. Power & We Predict

Next up this week, another week, another acquisition by J.D. Power.

Just last week we announced here on the Friday Five that J.D. Power purchased finance and insurance menu and reporting programs from the auto retail software company Tail Light.

This week, J.D. Power is back at it and has acquired the data and predictive analytics business of We Predict, the UK-based provider of global automobile service and warranty analytics.

We Predict’s software, which is used by auto manufacturers and suppliers to project future component failures and future warranty claims and costs, will be leveraged by J.D. Power to enhance its vehicle quality and dependability analytics, expand repair cost forecasting and provide critical valuation data.

We Predict software uses machine learning and predictive analytics to develop detailed projections of future warranty claims and repair costs for the global automobile industry.

Drawing on a database of billions of service records, We Predict can accurately forecast true vehicle ownership costs, residual values, repair, and warranty claims costs.

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Through Automotive Ventures, I’m going to be on the lookout for clever dealer technology startups that are solving big dealership needs for our new DealerFund.

If you’re an early-stage company working on a unique solution to help dealers, let me know at steve@automotiveventures.com.

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: Stella Automotive AI and Moove.ai.

STELLA Automotive AI

STELLA Automotive handles your car dealership’s inbound calls, answers questions, finds and books service appointments in seconds accessing multiple automotive dealership booking tools, watches phone lines, transfers calls and takes messages.

STELLA is a digital assistant that strengthens all of your car dealership’s communications channels. STELLA can handle your Reception Desk as well as your Service Scheduling lines.

Check out Stella Automotive AI at www.Stellautomotive.com.

Moove.ai

Moove.ai leverages connected vehicle data to fully realize transportation safety and efficiency. 

They provide a data backbone to connect all the disparate data required to fully orchestrate transformation within the mobility space. 

Moove.ai applies machine learning to rapidly identify issues in the system. They provide a real-time system for monitoring and managing data and intelligence.

Check out Moove at www.Moove.ai.

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So that’s your weekly Friday 5, a quick wrap-up of the big deals in the automotive technology space over the past week.

If you’re an early-stage automotive technology entrepreneur looking to raise money, or an entrepreneur who is trying to decide whether and when they should raise money or sell their business, I’d love to speak with you.

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

Did you enjoy this episode of the Friday 5? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic by submitting a letter to the editor here, or connect with us at newsroom@cbtnews.com.