Vancouver-based Company Connects Consumers Selling and Buying Used Vehicles Directly to Dealerships
VANCOUVER (January 27, 2022) – MintList, a Vancouver-based technology company focused on revolutionizing the auto sales industry for both consumers and dealers, is announcing the details of their seed round funding raise.
Founded by Chief Executive Officer Mike Wood and Chief Operating Officer Mehrsa Raeiszadeh, MintList’s post-seed round roadmap includes growing the team, furthering product development, Beta-testing its live auction platform and, most recently, launching a marketing campaign to people in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
“Buying a car is the second most expensive purchase most people ever make yet almost everyone has a bad story to tell around it,” said CEO and Co-Founder Mike Wood. He has more than 30 years experience in automotive leasing and sales.
“Everyone likes a new car in their driveway, but hates the process to get it there,” said Wood. “Dealerships own 99% of the available vehicle inventory in the market, but are getting increasingly squeezed by digital dealerships. Consumers need a better way to sell and buy cars. We set out to solve both problems.”
The opportunity for the buying and selling of used cars is estimated to be more than $40 billion in Canada alone.
Last year, MintList won the prestigious New Ventures BC award, the second time Co-Founder and COO Mehrsa Raeiszadeh, Ph. D. has won the award for the first time in its 21 year history. “The market for us is huge, and we can already see through our first auctions how much appetite there is for what we have created,” Raeiszadeh said. “Our tech so far has been flawless – people can list their car in just ten minutes, and watch offers roll in from the security of their own home in a competitive 30 minute process in real time. They get the best price, without the hassle of people showing up at their homes or going to multiple dealerships to secure the best offer.”
Sales through the Mintlist site began in October 2021 after launching in BC. Since mid-November, MintList has held live weekly auctions, already having sold more than $2 million in inventory. With this momentum, the team will be expanding across Canada throughout 2022.
The immediate success of MintList has been enabled by a successful seed funding round that was oversubscribed in just 6 weeks. The $2.6 million CAD raise was led by Toronto-based StandUp Ventures.
“What attracted us to MintList was the deep diversity of experience and talent Mike and Mehrsa has, and our belief in the business opportunity,” said Michelle McBane, Managing Director at StandUp Ventures. “Inventory shortages and the growth of digital incumbents will drive dealerships to adopt technology that enables them to stay relevant and competitive in the used car sales market. Just as Shopify enabled SMBs to compete with digital giants like Amazon, we believe MintList will be the go-to platform enabling dealerships to compete digitally into the future and recapture market share.”
StandUp Ventures listed MintList as one of their companies to watch in their end of 2021 wrap up. Along with StandUp Ventures, significant investors in MintList include Nicola Wealth, as well as high profile members of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL).
Aside from enabling their Beta-testing and launch of the online auctions, the seed funding has helped the company grow talent in a very competitive market from 3 to a team of over 20 in just a year.
Additionally, MintList has established strategic partnerships with one of Canada’s largest insurance companies, one of BC’s largest auto insurance brokers, and a global service provider to >6000 dealerships in their target markets of Canada, the US and the UK.
In the coming months, MintList will be launching the full suite of services on the platform, including not just the ability for consumers to sell directly to dealers, but the ability to buy and trade-in cars as well.
About MintList
MintList is an AI-powered platform for the buying, selling, and trading of cars. Created in 2020 by Vancouver-based TrafficDriven Technologies, MintList aggregates dealer inventory, displays it in a uniform format to consumers, and allows all parties to participate in a seamless, transparent, and safe transaction. The MintList business model is based on building great technology instead of expensive new physical infrastructure, delivering the best solution for dealers and consumers.
About StandUp Ventures
StandUp Ventures is a Toronto-based, seed stage venture capital fund focused on investing in high growth ventures with at least one woman founder in a key leadership role. StandUp Ventures believes that women led companies think outside the box, recruit great talent, and serve bigger markets.
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