Ex-Tesla CIO’s Auto Retail Startup Turns Unicorn in New Funding
- Company raises $150 million in Series C funding round
- Tekion was started by former Tesla executive Jay Vijayan
Tekion Corp., a cloud-based automotive retail startup founded by a former Tesla Inc. executive, has raised $150 million from backers led by private equity investor Advent International, lifting its valuation to over $1 billion.
The four-year-old startup, whose cloud software connects manufacturers, dealers and car buyers on a retail platform, drew investments from Index Ventures, Airbus Ventures, FM Capital and Exor -- the holding company of Fiat-Chrysler and Ferrari -- in the Series C financing round, it said in a statement Wednesday. The company already has backing from a number of global automakers, including General Motors Co., BMW AG and the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance.
The San Ramon, California-based technology company was founded by Jay Vijayan, a former chief information officer of electric vehicle giant Tesla, to offer end-to-end services in selling vehicles, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. The latest investment will allow Tekion to scale and expand to international markets like Japan and India as well as Europe next year, according to Vijayan.