Used car fintech startup Oodle has grabbed £100m of funding from Citigroup
Oodle, the used car fintech startup co-founded by an ex-banker, has just grabbed £100m of funding from Citigroup.
The young business, which scooped a £60m investment from private equity giant KKR last year, has already received more than £1.18bn worth of finance applications through its website which merges car searching and financing.
Citigroup’s funding is structured as a warehouse facility, which means Oodle will be able to lend this money to its customers to help them buy cars. Oodle can then sell the car finance loan to another creditor, using the money to repay Citigroup and make a profit for itself.
Read more: Pendragon shares race ahead despite a weak used car market crushing profits
“The Citigroup funding is a key milestone that will help us support innovation and turn the used-car market on its head, transforming the way car purchases are financed,” said Oodle’s chief executive Jonny Clayton, who was formerly at Credit Suisse before he founded investment firm Venn Partners.
“It’s a vote of confidence from yet another credible financial institution – a significant endorsement of our radical business model.
The partnership gives us room to grow and the funding means we can pass on the benefits of more affordable loan products to our customers.
Oodle has developed an online calculator which allows customers to input data such as their credit score, deposit and monthly budget in order to search for cars within their price range.
Read more: Hitting the brakes: UK car sales forecast to drop again in 2018
The site then displays vehicles from partner sites which match the customer’s criteria – already it has generated over 100,000 click-throughs to dealer partners’ websites, and employs a pay-per-click model meaning the dealer pays for every customer who navigates to their site.
A number of other businesses are currently springing up in the used car space, including Tootle which allows customers to advertise their cars directly to dealers on its site.
Read more: SoftBank’s Vision Fund backs online car marketplace Auto1