Adding new financing to a situation is bound to cause a little bit of a ruckus for any industry. It changes the game entirely for the company themselves and potential rivals when they suddenly have new resources to put into a project and speed up development by a large clip. So when the news came in that Tekion was getting a $150M funding charge, it did take the world by storm. In what way does this change up the game? How does this make a difference to the future of the company? Let’s take a look and see if we can’t work it out together.
Who are Tekion?
So let’s kick things off by asking the most obvious and immediate question that you might have. What is Tekion?
Tekion is a cloud retail company and one which has managed to modernize the automotive retail industry. By providing cloud software which allows for high efficiency in dealership operations and a seamless customer experience, they have helped to change up the landscape of the automotive retail industry and forever prove that not only can automotive retail be done with cloud software, but it’s superior to all other methods which came before it.
The company announced that their Series C financial round was $150M, with a valuation that caps out at over $1B. This incredible project’s funding is thanks in part to the power of Advent International, a large and considerable private equity investor group that operates on a global scale. They also saw participation from Index Ventures, Airbus Ventures, FM Capital, and their other investors from inside the automotive industry itself in the form of General Motors and BMW iVentures.
Jay Vijayan, the CEO of Tekion, had this to say on the matter.
“Today’s consumers receive outstanding personalized retail experiences from companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Disney. Why shouldn’t they expect the same in their vehicle acquisition and service needs? We believe Tekion will be the trailblazer for enabling the modernization of the entire consumer journey and providing the best experiences and operational efficiencies, period. It’s time to even the playing field for the automotive retail industry.”
Growth to Growth
It’s not exactly surprising that someone like Tekion has seen incredible success in this area considering the sheer growth they have had since 2019. When the company first began on-boarding dealers for it’s patented Automotive Retail Cloud service. Since then there’s been rapid growth across the board, and they have a foothold in 28 US states – an impressive figure for any company to have a claim to.
Their software is already integrated into 17 different OEM brands, and the remaining integrations are their target for 2021.
Improving Disruption
The injection of cash from Advent has not come at a better time for the company, who can use it to put additional resources into their platform and start to scale the company up.
Eric Wei, an MD in the Advent technology investment team, says that “the automotive retail and dealer technology ecosystem is ripe for disruption. It has operated for too long with outdated technology and patchwork systems that fail to meet the needs of modern dealers and their customers” – a sure sign of his faith in the ability of Tekion to get things done.
What Does This Mean?
You might be wondering what this all means for the future of Tekion and they’re operations. Functionally, the company now has more toys to play with. Because they’ve got a massive flush of new cash into their company, they can start to make enormous growth into what they are doing and their future efforts. For the other rivals in the business, the ones who are just beginning to develop their software to compete represent a massive loss in the ground. Thanks to the increasing amount of resources that the company can now pour into their software, they can keep going and deliver even more to customers, which is highly exciting for anyone who wants to Tekion pull ahead. It’s a simple case of having more to offer and putting into research and development, perfecting their existing software, expansion and growth. It means that Tekion may well continue to be the dominant force in the industry, and there’s very few, if any, competitors to stop them.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, this incredible growth will undoubtedly show that the company can continue to provide increased levels of cloud-based technology to dealerships all over the US. Their innovative and talented software can simplify the entire process and give people new options for getting things done.
Tekion themselves are going to be very grateful for a massive flush of cash. That kind of power and increased spending ability will contribute heavily to making sure that they can continue to give the best possible options for people to work on. Many unique opportunities and choices give them many different ways to move forward and progress, suitable for establishing a firm foothold in the US and maybe even globally. For potential rivals, it just means that Tekion continues to power on ahead and provide that they’re the undisputed kings of their industry at this time.
