Pitz raises $2.9M extension to bring AI auto repair platform to the US
What's the deal? Pitz, a Mexico-founded startup building an AI-powered "operating system" for auto repair shops, has raised a $2.9M extension round, bringing its total funding to $5M in under a year. The round drew participation from Alaya, Boost, Cracks, Latitud, The Pitch, BFF, Marathon, and Amplifica. It follows a $2.1M round seven months ago backed by Hustle Fund, 500 Startups, Marathon, and Cracks Fund, along with angel investors tied to motorsport, including names from Formula 1.
Founded by Natália Salcedo, a former executive at Rappi and Jokr (Daki), Pitz integrates diagnostics, shop management, a parts marketplace, and logistics into a single platform. It currently operates in the São Paulo metro area, serving independent shops, automotive networks, manufacturers, and resellers, with more than 1,400 registered workshops and a catalogue of over 1 million automotive SKUs.
Why now? The company plans to enter the US market by the end of 2026. Auto repair remains one of the least digitised corners of the automotive industry, and Pitz sees an opening to bring AI-driven diagnostics to mechanics who still rely on incomplete or incorrect assessments — a bottleneck that directly affects vehicle repair times.
Pitz's core product is a voice-based AI assistant that talks mechanics through car diagnostics in real time, turning spoken interactions into faster and more accurate results.
What could go wrong? Expanding from Latin America into the US means navigating a very different regulatory landscape, supply chain, and competitive environment. The company will also need to prove its AI diagnostic tool works reliably across a far wider range of vehicle makes and models. Convincing traditionally low-tech repair shops to adopt new software is never easy — customer acquisition costs could climb quickly.
The signal: Pitz sits at the intersection of two strong currents: vertical AI and the digitisation of legacy industries. Investors are increasingly drawn to startups that embed AI into specific workflows rather than building horizontal tools. The auto repair sector — fragmented, analogue, and enormous — is ripe for this approach. If Pitz can replicate its Latin American traction in the US, it could become a meaningful infrastructure layer for an industry that has barely been touched by software.
Read more: startups.com.br
