Daimler invests in Carwow

The new capital will be used by carwow to accelerate growth in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain through investments in marketing, staffing, and product development. The product portfolio will be expanded to include stock vehicles, annual vehicles, leasing, and OEM products.

By doing so, Daimler AG follows investors such as Balderton Capital, Accel, and Vitruvian Partners, all of whom are reinvesting in the tech startup to support further growth of carwow in new as well as existing markets. Axel Harries, Head of Sales Mercedes-Benz Cars & Product Management Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, will secure a seat on the carwow Board for Daimler AG.

This funding round was the first in which strategic investors from the automotive sector invested in the tech startup. Several German car dealers and other strategic investors are joining Daimler AG. They all support the digital transformation of traditional car dealerships, meeting strong customer approval as a growing number of them conduct part of their research and purchasing decisions online.

carwow offers car buyers a unique purchasing experience. From unbiased test reports to offer comparability and selecting the right dealer, the startup focuses on complete transparency. Car dealers, in turn, benefit from increased online visibility and a digital sales channel that efficiently brings online customers into the dealership.

Thus, carwow convinces at the interface between customers, dealers, and manufacturers. And it seems to be on the right track, as since its launch in Germany, cars worth 600 million euros have been sold via the platform, according to carwow. In the UK, one in twenty new cars is now bought via carwow, which corresponds to a market share of 5%. carwow Germany now holds a 1.5% share of the private new car market. carwow started in Spain exactly one year ago and is already growing five times faster than the parent company in its first year.

What does that mean?

Philipp Sayler von Amende, CEO and Co-Founder of carwow Germany, who comes from the car trade himself, says: "carwow stands for transparency in the purchasing process between car buyers and dealers. Now, the inventor of the automobile and several car dealers are investing to advance this very transparency and accelerate the growth of carwow. This clearly shows the radical change in the perception of the automotive trade: digitalization is recognized as an opportunity to offer customers a unique digital purchasing experience."