Carmoola Raises £103.5 Million to Transform How You Pay For a Car

LONDON, Feb. 22, 2023 – UK car finance fintech Carmoola [www.carmoola.co.uk]  has raised a £8.5 million Series A round and £95 million debt facility to revolutionise the way people pay for car purchases.

The round was led by US-based fintech specialists QED Investors, with participation from existing investors VentureFriends and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover. It also includes a debt facility provided by Natwest and BCI, priming Carmoola for rapid growth in a lucrative market worth £120 billion in the UK alone.
 
Launched only ten months ago, Carmoola is liberating the archaic, slow, and backwards car finance market with a new, straightforward “neo car finance” product that is effortless to use and reduces the time taken to complete a car purchase from days to just minutes. Carmoola’s exclusive proprietary technology and systems enable a streamlined process  that provides buyers with a budget, generates a free history check on the car, and allows payment to be made both instantly online and at the showroom within just 60 seconds using a Carmoola virtual card for a seamless consumer experience.
 

Carmoola CEO Aidan Rushby said:

“Used-car finance couldn’t be more ready for a fintech revolution. Consumers want the freedom to go shopping anywhere, knowing what they can spend, without sending off reams of forms and payslips.
 
“Frustrated consumers are being put in a corner with excessive rates, manipulated commission, and poor customer service, but it’s the very process of getting finance that is at the heart of the problem. It’s full of paperwork, lengthy processes, and lack of certainty, but most importantly, car finance is obtained after the consumer has fallen in love with the car they want, which wholly puts them on the back foot. Until now, that is.”  
 

With 7.5 million used car purchases being completed in the UK alone in 2022 - at an average price of £13,705, Carmoola is serving a £120 billion market for pre-approved car finance.  

Yusuf Özdalga, Partner and Head of Europe at QED Investors, the backer of finance unicorns Remitly and NuBank that led the round into Carmoola, said:

“Having not adapted to modern expectations for the consumer, the car finance industry has been caught off guard by the new neo-car finance brand Carmoola, who champions the consumer at every part of the process. Carmoola is on track to dominate the car finance sector with a game-changing approach to purchasing.”
 

The funding will be immediately deployed to continue to scale the business and support the rapid customer adoption Carmoola has seen since launching just ten months ago. The plan is to grow the team to 20 people to meet demand, with the customer at the heart of their business. This championing of customer service and experience has earned Carmoola ratings at a minimum of 4.9 out of 5 across all review platforms. 

 
Rushby added:

“This funding will not only drive our ambitious growth aspirations but enable us to continue putting the customer at the forefront of everything we do.”
 

Carmoola will also be launching green discounts in the coming months, which aim to incentivise consumers to utilise more sustainable choices. Pure-electric cars rose by 57% to take a 1% share of the used market, which will become a continuing trend for Carmoola to capitalise on.
 

Ends
 

About Carmoola 

No more wasted time hunting down the perfect car, only to find you can’t afford it, Carmoola gives users an immediate pre-approved budget and virtual card for instant purchasing. All in 3 easy steps. Giving people the freedom to go shopping, knowing what you can spend, without sending off reams of forms and payslips, puts the consumer in control of their car purchase. 
Carmoola offers additional consumer benefits; better value finance that cuts out the middleman, and flexible in-app financing, so you can increase your payments, make overpayments, or completely pay off your loan without incurring any penalties or charges.

Founder Aidan Rushby (CEO) has extensive experience in fast-moving, scale-up businesses, having founded Movebubble. Co-founded by Amy McKechnie (Director of Product and Marketing), Rushby is also joined by Ukrainian co-founders, Roman Sumnikov, Chief Technology Officer and Igor Gordiichuk, Chief Information Officer.

Carmoola will be the only company to offer green incentives such as lower APRs on electric vehicles to encourage the uptake of clean-air cars, carbon footprint calculators, and to pass on savings from ESG debt funding to consumers - launching this Spring.

The consumer app was launched for the first time in March 2022. Available on iOS and Android.

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 www.qedinvestors.com

About InMotion Ventures

InMotion Ventures is the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Jaguar Land Rover, and a core component of the businesses’ Open Innovation strategy. The fund identifies and invests in startups working in the territories of electrification, connectivity, digital services, intelligent enterprise, sustainability, talent and metaverse. Notable past investments include Lyft (exited in 2019), Ascend Elements, Circulor and Bumper. To find out more about InMotion, please see: www.inmotionventures.com

About VentureFriends

VentureFriends is a European early-stage VC that has offices in London, Warsaw and Athens, 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