AutoGravity

AutoGravity emerged in October 2015 as a fintech company aimed at streamlining the vehicle financing process for consumers. It was founded by Andreas "Andy" Hinrichs, Nicholas Stellman, Aleks Bogoeski, and Serge Vartanov. Hinrichs, the initial CEO, brought nearly two decades of experience from Daimler Financial Services, a background that shaped the company's direction to digitize and simplify car financing. The firm was headquartered in Irvine, California, and received significant early backing, including an initial $50 million in seed money from the Daimler Group.

The company operated a digital platform, available on iOS, Android, and the web, that connected car shoppers with a network of lenders and dealerships across the United States. Its business model centered on earning revenue from lenders when users secured financing through the platform. Additionally, AutoGravity offered a subscription-based lead generation service for dealerships and provided a "white label" version of its app that allowed dealers to incorporate their own branding. By partnering with major financial institutions like Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, VW Credit, and Hyundai Capital America, AutoGravity created a marketplace for automotive loans and leases.

The core service allowed a car buyer to select a new or used vehicle, choose a local dealer from the platform's network, and then apply for financing. Within minutes, the user could receive up to four tailored loan or lease offers, empowering them with transparent options before ever visiting a showroom. Features like scanning a driver's license to pre-fill applications and real-time inventory browsing from partner dealerships were designed to enhance convenience. The platform's success was marked by significant milestones, including surpassing $2 billion in financing requests by January 2018 and growing to over 2 million users. The company raised a total of $80 million through several funding rounds, with notable investments from Daimler and Volkswagen. However, co-founder Andy Hinrichs departed as CEO in May 2018, followed by other key executives. The company later pivoted its strategy to focus more on generating car-buying leads for dealers and launched a used car subscription service called "Turn" in 2019 before ultimately ceasing operations around October 2020.

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