Big news to share today! We’ve partnered with The CapStreet Group out of Houston, TX to continue growing TradePending.  The official language (with the full announcement below) is: The CapStreet Group, LLC is pleased to announce the completion of the majority recapitalization of TradePending, LLC. 

So what does this investment in TradePending actually mean for our customers, our company, and the automotive industry?

Our customers

Those TradePending products you already know and love? We’ll continue to make them better, and build new products the TradePending way: with transparency, accuracy, ease of use, and return on investment. We’ll also be looking outwards to new partnerships in the coming years.

We’ll continue helping dealers gain a competitive edge as the battle for used car acquisition heats up, consumers demand more data to make decisions, and digital retailing accelerates.  

Our company

As we approach our seventh birthday, we realized that it was time to evolve the company. Thanks to our customers, those seven years yielded remarkable organic growth, including being named #64 on the Inc. 500 list in 2019. We have much more that we want to accomplish, so we needed a partner to help us go faster.

CapStreet attracted us because they quickly recognized that our people and our culture form the foundation of who we are and what we do. We’re working together to invest more in our employees and our products, accelerating the path we’re currently on. That means growing our sales and marketing teams, new roles in product development, and more hires in support and engineering.

The Automotive Industry

We’ve been preaching transparency, “retail down”, retail “ask prices”, and bridging the information divide since our beginning in 2014. The pandemic quickly exposed how valuable this approach is, and we saw our largest competitors shift their tactics and messaging to catch up.

With looming new inventory shortages, the battle for used car acquisition and merchandising online inventory won’t be cooling down, it will stay hot through 2021. We’ll continue to help dealers face these challenges head-on, and give them a competitive edge when facing new market entrants, big box retailers, and tumultuous times. 

Our mindset and mission of “simple automotive”, guided by transparency, ease of use, and return on investment, continues to shape everything we do, build, and evaluate. This new partnership with CapStreet helps us do that more, better, and faster.

The Official Announcement

Houston, Texas – (February [15th], 2021): The CapStreet Group, LLC is pleased to announce the completion of the majority recapitalization of TradePending, LLC. (“TradePending” or the “Company”), in partnership with the founders and shareholders. 

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Carrboro, North Carolina, TradePending’s mission is “simple automotive”. The Company builds software for car dealerships that brings accuracy, transparency, and simplicity to both their customers and consumers alike. The solution leverages vehicle pricing data to enable digital retailing, optimize online conversions, and maximize profitability for trade-in vehicles. 

“From the outset, we were impressed with the CapStreet team. They took the time to not only understand the industry and our business model, but also the culture and spirit that makes our company tick,” said Brice Englert, TradePending’s CEO. “With this new partnership we’re setting the stage for accelerated organic growth. As we continue to build a scalable organization, that opens up opportunities for us to explore new areas within automotive as well.”  Englert added, “Our dealer customers continue to face a more competitive market than ever, especially in pre-owned, that necessitates solutions to help them source, manage, merchandise and sell used and new inventory. TradePending has given thousands of dealers a competitive edge for seven years, and this partnership with CapStreet will allow us to be more innovative and aggressive than ever before.”

Adrian Guerra, Partner with CapStreet, commented, “TradePending is a dynamic company that has created significant growth momentum due to its unique value proposition.  Brice and the rest of the management team have done a great job building the business, and we look forward to partnering with them in the next phase of growth.” Chas Richard, a Vice President with CapStreet, added, “TradePending has tremendous potential as a platform with numerous opportunities to expand and enhance its solutions through internal investments and add-on acquisitions.”

TradePending is the second investment for CapStreet V, LP, which has $500 million of committed capital.

The CapStreet team for the TradePending investment also included Rob Madorsky and Evan Harmon.

Portico Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to TradePending. Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as CapStreet’s legal counsel, while Robinson Bradshaw served as legal counsel for TradePending.

About The CapStreet Group

The CapStreet Group is a Houston, Texas based private equity firm that invests in owner-managed, lower middle market companies. CapStreet targets companies operating in the outsourced business service sector and the industrial distribution, services and manufacturing sectors. CapStreet’s approach is to partner with excellent management teams to build out corporate infrastructure, accelerate growth and profitability, and create long-term sustainable businesses. For more information, visit The CapStreet Group website, www.capstreet.com.