August 15, 2023 — Since a recapitalization investment from the Houston-based Capstreet Group in 2021, TradePending has acquired two companies — AutoAPR in 2022, and Snapcell, a transaction announced this week. Snapcell, a SaaS automotive video marketing platform, was founded by Brent Williams in 2018 in the U.K. Its U.S. headquarters are in Tampa. It… Continue Reading
July 20, 2023 — On a blistering acquisition pace this year, The Reynolds and Reynolds Company announced its fourth purchase since January, picking up Xzilon, an Oregon-based vehicle protection and appearance solution provider. Xzilon, founded in 2003, offers F&I products that protect and enhance the exteriors and interiors of vehicles, boats, RVs, and motorcycles. Kevin… Continue Reading
July 18, 2023 — JM Family Enterprises Inc. is taking the lead in a new growth funding round for Skaivision, a computer vision artificial intelligence solutions provider for automotive dealerships. Mark Queen, Skaivision founder and CEO, unveiled the concept at the AUTOVATE conference in December 2021. Since then, he raised a seed round, including investment from dealers, developed the software,… Continue Reading
June 9, 2023 — June got off to a hot start with M&A in the auto retail sector with at least three transactions being announced this week (and two we know that have not been announced yet). For the most part, the acquisitions were tuck-in deals providing the buyers with software that both expands their… Continue Reading
May 10, 2023 — STELLA Automotive AI, a provider of high-end conversational AI technology, announced yesterday it has closed a seed round of financing. The round included multiple well-known dealer groups such as Maroone USA, the Pohanka Automotive Group, and Czubay Family Enterprises. Terms of the financing of the seed were not disclosed. However, investors… Continue Reading
January 26, 2023 — M&A activity in the auto retail vendor space continues its brisk pace at the beginning of 2023 with Vehlo’s announcement this week that it has acquired Velocity Automotive from Hugh Hathcock and Rapid Recon from Dennis McGinn. Both deals were completed late in the fourth quarter, but announced only this week.…
January 10, 2023 — Acquisition activity in the automotive retail vendor space is off to a brisk start in 2023. Following last week’s announcement that APCO Holdings had acquired National Auto Care, J.D. Power announced this morning it has acquired ZappyRide, to bolster its new E-Vision initiative created to provide software and data to greentech… Continue Reading
August 2, 2022 — Canada’s TD Bank Group (Toronto Dominion) confirmed this morning the month-long speculation that it will acquire U.S.-based investment bank Cowen Inc. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, is for $39 a share — a 62% premium more than what it was trading for in… Continue Reading
July 25, 2022 — AutoWeb, formerly known as Autobytel, announced this morning that a subsidiary of One Planet Group is acquiring it for $0.39 a share. The transaction, valued at nearly $5.5 million, is expected to close in September this year. Payam Zamani, founder and CEO of One Planet, will replace Jared Rowe as CEO… Continue Reading
July 12, 2022 — After a three and half year hiatus, Brian MacDonald is returning to CDK Global in his former role as CEO. He replaces Brian Krzanich who replaced him in November 2018. CDK is expected to make the announcement this morning. The move follows last week’s $8.7 billion sale to investment firm Brookfield… Continue Reading