July 30, 2015—Dealer-FX, which provides software for auto dealerships, announced on Wednesday that it has finalized a definitive agreement for a strategic growth investment from HGGC, a market private equity firm.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Dealer-FX delivers a SaaS-based solution that spans the entire service, including online appointment scheduling, service check-in and write-up process, electronic technician dashboards, and predictive customer journey and workflow management analytics. Its 1 Solution platform integrates and presents vehicle telematics, OEM, DMS, owner’s manual and third-party vendor data in a customer-friendly mobile application.
“We are very excited to be partnering with HGGC,” said Gary Kalk, founder and CEO of Dealer-FX. “Their resources and expertise in growing technology businesses will be incredibly valuable as we continue to expand and develop new solutions that inject needed transparency into the car servicing process while helping automotive service departments evolve to meet the changing expectations of tech-savvy customers.”
This will be HGGC’s fifth transaction of 2015, and the second in its automotive technology portfolio, with the previous acquisition of AutoAlert Inc.
“This is a great opportunity for HGGC to leverage our auto technology experience and follow our successful playbook of taking growing companies global,” said Steve Young, managing partner at HGGC. “Dealer-FX is a proven leader within an auto retail IT market that is expected to reach $16 billion by 2018, and we’re confident that they can capture greater market share in North America and continue to extend their footprint into international markets.”
“Inconsistent service advisor performance is one of the key forces driving customer distrust and defection, which is why fifty percent of dealers plan to adopt Service Lane Technology over the next 18 months,” said Jake Hodgman, principal with HGGC. “Dealer-FX helps service departments capture valuable data and leverage it to improve the customer experience, resulting in increased revenues, retention, and customer satisfaction.”
