The BNPL variant for car repairs. Porsche and Jaguar were among the investors.

London-based, car repair funding platform Bumper has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Autotech Ventures and which included participation by Porsche Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures fund, and a host of angel investors. The round brought Bumper’s total funding till date to $17.5 million. (Silicon Canals)

Autotech Ventures, the lead investor, is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm focusing on the ground transportation sector.

How it works

Bumper’s fully automated platform for financing and managing car repairs offers “pay-later” to vehicle owners, allowing them to pay in interest free flexible payments.

It uses AI to access the dealerships’ APIs to create an automotive scorecard to quickly assess customers and dealers to minimize the risk of payment defaults.

The entire process is quick and does not need cumbersome application procedures. As a result the platform has gained the business of nearly 60% of the UK dealer market franchisees, including Volkswagen Group, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, and Nissan.

Bumper makes its money by charging a transaction fee to the dealerships in exchange for providing the full cost of the repair upfront.

Necessary repairs, affordable rates, safe vehicles

“The current process for handling car repairs is broken on both sides, with dealerships selling just 40% of identified repairs and drivers left out of pocket and with dangerous vehicles. Bumper offers a simple alternative to unexpected car repairs,” said James Jackson, CEO, and co-founder of Bumper.

“It’s a very different proposition to other Buy Now Pay Later services, as we’re not encouraging people to buy things they don’t need, we’re enabling them to purchase necessary repairs at an affordable rate. We’ve seen huge demand for expanding the services we offer and are looking forward to bringing Bumper to customers across Europe,” Jackson added.

“The technology seamlessly integrates with the existing systems of dealerships and OEMs, which combined with rigorous credit checking, offers merchants and dealerships a level of security previously unseen in the industry,” said Alex Smout, Principal at InMotion Ventures.

“The Bumper team has succeeded in building an industry-leading product in the UK and we are eager to support its expansion to Continental Europe,” said Alexei Andreev, Managing Director of Autotech Ventures. “Bumper’s business ties with leading automotive OEMs, deep integration with dealerships, and repair quotation tools create formidable entry barriers for other players.”

Bumper will use the proceeds of the Series A round to expand its reach across Europe and to build a consumer app that will function as a one-stop-shop for all automotive requirements such as payments for congestion charges, parking and tolls, and approving repair work.

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