Carmoola Raises £15.5 Million to Help Even More People Find and Finance Their Dream Cars

LONDON, JANUARY 2024 - Carmoola, the UK-based fintech specialising in direct-to-consumer car finance, has announced a £15.5 million equity investment.

This significant raise follows an £8.5 million Series A round and a £95 million debt facility (both secured in February of 2023), and reflects the confidence inspired by both Carmoola’s performance to date and the strength of its innovative approach to simplifying car finance for UK consumers. 

The funding will be used to reach even more car buyers, enabling  Carmoola to make further inroads into the UK’s £100 billion used car finance market, which is forecast to grow to £190 billion by 2027*. Coupled with a disciplined approach to capital allocation, this investment will accelerate Carmoola’s journey to profitability.

Investment came from US-based fintech specialists QED Investors; VentureFriends; InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover); New York-based investors AlleyCorp; and Kyiv-based u.ventures.
 
Carmoola, which launched its app in March 2022, is transforming the cumbersome and complex car finance market by putting the power back in the hands of buyers and removing the knowledge imbalance that comes with traditional and outdated lending models. The company already boasts an average Trustpilot rating of 4.9 out of 5, from over 1,100 verified customer reviews. 

This investment takes Carmoola’s total funding to date to £146 million (including a £95 million debt facility). 

Aidan Rushby, co-founder and CEO of Carmoola, said:

“We are incredibly excited about this new investment. It's a testament to the hard work of our team and the clear value we bring to car buyers by doing things differently. 

“Carmoola came about because we could see that the used car finance market was broken, but the status quo suited traditional lenders just fine, so nobody was doing anything about it. We saw the opportunity to do better and rebalance the situation in favour of the consumer, and our financial backers shared this vision. Now that we have proven our concept we are ready to bring our product to even more people. 

“Our goal is to make car financing as user-friendly and hassle-free as possible, and this unrelenting focus has already seen us support the purchase of over £46 million worth of cars**. With this new funding, and the support of our investors, we are poised to help even more people buy the car of their dreams.” 

Yusuf Özdalga, partner and head of Europe at QED Investors, the backer of finance unicorns Remitly and NuBank, said: 

“Carmoola is shaking up an industry that had grown and remains complacent, and is addressing the poor customer outcomes and unnecessary hurdles that the incumbents have allowed to take hold. 

“The customer reviews speak for themselves, and show what a real and noticeable impact Carmoola’s customer-first approach is having on people’s lives. It’s clear from this feedback that access to fair, fast and affordable car finance is about more than buying a vehicle; it supports people’s lives and livelihoods. More car buyers deserve to experience the Carmoola treatment, and we are delighted to help make this happen.”

Apostolos Apostolakis, founding partner at VentureFriends, said: 

"We focus on start-ups that have the potential to address a large market and which can quickly hone in on hard-earned differentiation. Carmoola does just that, and the company’s performance since launch is evidence of the team’s skill in identifying and pursuing opportunities at pace and with intent. 

“We are founders ourselves, so understand the highs and lows of start-up life only too well. In our experience, companies whose leaders and people focus unwaveringly on doing what’s right for the ultimate user of their product are the ones that can grow sustainably, and Carmoola is such a business.”

Marshall Porter, general partner at AlleyCorp, said:

"Carmoola is delivering a ground-breaking customer experience in an industry where that experience has long been a pain, leaving customers to navigate an unnecessarily slow and bureaucratic process to secure a car.  

“As a team of former operators and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are focused on solving the pains that incumbents ignore, and we are proud to back Aidan Rushby and the incredible team at Carmoola as they deliver a much-loved customer experience that also leverages data in a way that just makes them better than the incumbents."

With the UK’s used car market growing year on year, and recovering towards pre-pandemic levels***, the new funding will be immediately deployed to scale the business to reach and serve even more car buyers. At the same time, user experience and service will remain at the forefront - a commitment that has earned Carmoola independently verified ratings of 4.9 out of 5 from over 1,000 of its satisfied customers. 

Carmoola’s app is available on both iOS and Android. Find out more, here: www.carmoola.co.uk 

-ends-

For further information, please contact: 

Anders Nilsson, Head of PR: anders@carmoola.co.uk / 07841 698 642

Notes to editors

*https://www.statista.com/topics/2190/the-uk-used-car-industry/#topicOverview
**Internal data, correct as of November 2023
***https://www.smmt.co.uk/category/vehicle-data/used-car-sales-data/

About Carmoola 

Carmoola is a UK-based fintech company and direct-to-consumer lender that is revolutionising the car finance industry and bringing 'wow' to the car-buying process. 

Through its cutting-edge platform Carmoola offers finance options tailored to individual needs, ensuring that car buyers can make informed decisions and access their funds with ease and speed.

Carmoola is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (958057), and is a member of CIFAS (the UK’s leading fraud prevention service).

Rates from as low as 6.9% APR. Representative 14.8% APR.

Find out more about Carmoola and its simple three-step application process, here: https://www.carmoola.co.uk/ 

About QED Investors

QED Investors is a global leading venture capital firm based in Alexandria, Va. Founded by Nigel Morris and Frank Rotman in 2007, QED Investors is focused on investing in disruptive financial services companies worldwide. QED Investors is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages its partners’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping companies achieve breakthrough growth. Notable investments include AvidXchange, Bitso, ClearScore, Current, Creditas, Credit Karma, Kavak, Klarna, Konfio, Loft, Mission Lane, Nubank, QuintoAndar, Remitly and SoFi. For more information, visit 
 visit www.qedinvestors.com

About InMotion Ventures

InMotion Ventures is the investment arm of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) and a core component of the business' Open Innovation strategy. The fund invests globally from Seed to Series A across Electrification, ClimateTech, Industrial and Enterprise technologies. Notable past investments include Lyft (exited in 2019), Ascend Elements, Circulor, Envisics, and EV Energy. To find out more about InMotion Ventures: www.inmotionventures.com

About VentureFriends

VentureFriends is a European early-stage VC that has offices in London, Athens, Barcelona and Warsaw,, currently investing out of its third fund of €100 million. Apostolos Apostolakis and George Dimopoulos founded VentureFriends in 2016 after their experience as founders and angels exposed that there was a need for more founder-friendly investors in Europe. VentureFriends partners with ambitious founders early in their journey and supports them through the highs and the lows. VentureFriends have backed some incredible teams over the years, including Blueground, Instashop, Huspy, Belvo and Flexcar. Get in touch with VentureFriends at: www.venturefriends.vc 

About AlleyCorp

Founded by serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp is a New York-based venture capital firm that founds and invests in transformative companies across dedicated verticals for Diversified Technology, Healthcare, Robotics, and Social Impact. Companies incubated by AlleyCorp include MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, Zola, Nomad Health, Pearl Health, and Transcend Therapeutics. In addition to founding companies, AlleyCorp actively invests across pre-seed, seed, and Series A. For more information, please visit: www.alleycorp.com 

About u.ventures

With more than two decades of successful experience investing in small and medium-sized companies in Ukraine and Moldova, Western NIS Enterprise Fund established u.ventures to invest in early stage technology startups with world-class teams and a global potential for growth. For more information, visit: https://u.ventures/