Ekho, a New York-based platform enabling online vehicle checkout experiences, announced a total of $17.3 million in venture funding, including a $15 million Series A round led by Activant Capital. Ekho’s end-to-end commerce platform automates all of the complex transactions involved with vehicle purchasing, while connecting OEMs, dealers and buyers.
The company aims to solve existing challenges preventing online vehicle sales, such as complex sales orchestration processes contingent upon identity checks, license validation, insurance validation and the like. Various laws also prevent manufacturers from selling directly to consumers, and high-value purchases have always traditionally happened in person, according to an Ekho blog post.
Ekho’s solution encompasses three core products that build upon the company’s AI-driven automation capabilities, state-by-state compliance infrastructure, legacy integrations, licences and user interface. Ekho Dealer helps individual dealerships close sales online, Ekho Access serves businesses selling out of warehouses and Ekho Omni is for large OEMs and marketplaces.
Ultimately, Ekho works to ensure buyers can make quick purchases, OEMs and dealers can launch online sales nationwide and dealers always earn their profit margin on every transaction. As it continues to grow, the company will invest its funding in expanding its engineering team, strengthening its state-by-state compliance infrastructure and scaling its platform stability for OEMs and dealerships.
