May 01, 2024, TAMPA, Fla.
STELLA™ Automotive AI, Inc. (“STELLA”), a provider of automotive artificial intelligence technology, announced the closing of its oversubscribed Series A financing round, which raised $19.7 million to drive market growth and support ongoing product enhancement and development.
The raise comprises both newly invested capital and outstanding convertible notes that converted into this Series A issuance.
The Presidio Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to STELLA for the Series A financing, helping it procure capital from existing backers and several new investors from within the auto retail ecosystem, including strategic partner Reynolds and Reynolds and nine new strategic dealer investors: Qvale Auto Group, OREMOR Automotive Group, Mills Automotive Group, Bowers Automotive Group, MileOne Autogroup, Flow Automotive, MBB Auto Group, Ford Family Investments and West Herr Auto Group.
Using STELLA’s technology, dealerships can solve the longtime major pain points of engaging with customers in a timely and helpful fashion. STELLA’s AI assistant can simultaneously handle unlimited inbound calls as it engages in natural language conversations 24/7 to deliver a world-class customer experience. The STELLA assistant is trained on a wide range of automotive retail topics and can answer frequently asked questions and schedule service and sales appointments.
“Having dealers on board as early investors and users of STELLA’s technology creates a symbiotic relationship that benefits both parties,” said Presidio Managing Director Keith Style.
“Strategic investors who have deployed these solutions provide real-time feedback, enabling STELLA to quickly enhance its current product offerings and develop a robust roadmap of future products that dealers want to deploy in their stores.”
STELLA’s products integrate with existing dealership software offered by companies like Reynolds and Reynolds, a longtime leading provider of the full Retail Management System for auto retailers.
“As we look to the future of automotive retail and the positive impact artificial intelligence can have, two things are clear. First, the broader an ecosystem we can build for AI to interact with, the more powerful it will be. And second, the data layer AI technology uses to make decisions will determine how much benefit it will have for retailers and our industry as a whole,” said Chris Walsh, president of Reynolds.
“Our investment in STELLA is a great launching pad to take AI in automotive retail to the next level.”
Having Reynolds as an early investor provides another avenue for STELLA to test and refine its AI solutions.
“The investment by Reynolds and Reynolds underscores the tremendous value inherent in STELLA’s technology and its ability to improve dealership efficiency and profitability and enhance the customer experience,” said Presidio CEO Brodie Cobb. “The industry’s strategic venture investors see huge potential in artificial intelligence to transform the aspects of vehicle sales and service that haven’t always worked seamlessly. STELLA’s innovative products and this successful financing round further cement the promise AI holds for the industry.”
Venkat