TradePending, a provider of vehicle valuation and merchandising software solutions to car dealerships, announced today that it has acquired AutoAPR, a provider of website engagement tools for the automotive, power sports, RV, and marine industries. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. TradePending is backed by The Capstreet Group (“Capstreet”), a Houston-based lower middle market private equity firm.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Charlotte, NC, AutoAPR offers lead generation website plug-in tools for auto dealers that help consumers understand what they can afford. Hundreds of auto dealers around the country use AutoAPR’s website tools to help customers generate personal payment estimates, find vehicles in dealers’ current inventory that fit with their budgets, view their credit ratings, and schedule test drive appointments. AutoAPR’s founders Dan Mayer, CEO, and Daniel Congrove, CTO, and their employees will join the TradePending team.
“We partnered with Capstreet last year to create a foundation for a new platform to fast track innovation in the automotive software industry, and our acquisition of AutoAPR is our first step towards that goal,” said Brice Englert, CEO of TradePending. “TradePending and AutoAPR pair very well together. We both share the same end goal of arming both the dealership and end-consumer with better information about the car buying process, with a similar mission and vision to provide transparency and help dealerships grow their businesses.”
“Joining TradePending is truly a great opportunity for our employees and customers to be part of a fast-growing company dedicated to improving the automotive buying process,” said Dan Mayer, CEO of AutoAPR. “With similar target customers, TradePending’s team can immediately begin selling our products and expand our reach. We couldn’t be more excited to join the TradePending family.”
“Today’s consumers are entering the most competitive car buying market in decades, and we believe dealers that can demystify the process will have an advantage,” said Adrian Guerra, Partner at Capstreet. “This is a synergistic combination that Capstreet expects will benefit both companies, with many cross-selling opportunities ahead. We welcome the AutoAPR team, and look forward to supporting TradePending’s ongoing growth.”
About TradePending
TradePending’s mission is “simple automotive,” bringing dealers and consumers together across North America. SNAP, the Company’s disruptive trade-in tool, brings transparency, elegant data visualizations, powerful mobile usability, and high-quality leads. SNAP Offer empowers dealers to configure their trade-in offers to match their inventory sourcing strategy. Superlatives improves how dealers merchandise their inventory by using real-time market data to show what makes each vehicle valuable and unique in a dealer’s local market. The TradePending API provides industry partners with proprietary market data to power their own products and services.
About The Capstreet Group
Founded in 1990, Capstreet invests in lower middle market software, tech-enabled services, and industrial business services companies. With over 45 platform investments and over 200 add-on acquisitions since inception, Capstreet’s investment strategy is focused on utilizing its Capvalue FrameworkTM to accelerate growth and profitability, and creating long term sustainable businesses. The majority of Capstreet’s investments have been with founder- or entrepreneur-owned businesses. For more information, visit the Capstreet website, www.capstreet.com.