EnerTech Invests in Leading Fleet Payment Company Car IQ as Part of Investment Strategy in Growing Connected Vehicle Market
March 29, 2023, Toronto, ON and Philadelphia, PA – EnerTech is pleased to announce their investment in San Francisco-based Car IQ, a leading vehicle fleet payment company. EnerTech joins co-investors Forte Ventures, Visa, Bridgestone, Navistar, State Farm Ventures®, TELUS Ventures, Avanta Ventures (the corporate venture arm of CSAA Insurance Group), and Circle K in an oversubscribed $15 Million Series B round of financing.
The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of the Car IQ payment platform in the face of increasing demand from fleet, auto OEM, and merchant customers, and to add new merchant payment categories such as electric vehicle charging, service & repair, and insurance.
Founded in 2016, Car IQ has created a new form of identity verification for machines that allows vehicles to connect directly with banks, merchants, and service providers to make purchases without the use of a physical credit card. The company's product, Car IQ Pay, offers commercial fleets an easier way to pay for fuel, tolls, and parking by leveraging vehicle data to automate the payment process. This allows fleets to manage their spending more effectively, develop unique insights, and reduce fraud. Currently Car IQ Pay is accepted at over 25,500+ fuel stations nationwide including Shell, Sunoco, Sinclair, and others across the US. Car IQ’s patent-pending ‘Know Your Machine℠’ technology is accepted by payment networks and is the foundation for the first machine payment network that uniquely authenticates vehicles, enabling direct vehicle-initiated transactions and payments.
Car IQ is targeting the ~$650 billion spent annually on vehicle services using credit cards, debit cards, and ACH, and eliminates the need to give drivers cards or manually input PIN’s, odometer, or other forms of driver identity. Existing payment methods are costly, difficult to reconcile, and prone to fraud. Customers cannot authenticate the actual vehicle, the service needs of the vehicle, or validate that the vehicle received a billed-for service. This creates security risks for the fleet operator, merchant, and payment network.
“We are excited to have EnerTech join the latest round of funding and believe they bring with them significant corporate strategic linkages and access to a mobility ecosystem that Car IQ can leverage to speed our growth across additional payment categories,” said Sterling Pratz, CEO of Car IQ.
“Car IQ is well aligned with the investment strategy of our latest fund (EnerTech Global Strategic Mobility Fund) and addresses the growing opportunities in the world of fleet and machine-to-machine payments. We believe Car IQ is an emerging player in the growing world of vehicle to everything (V2X) including the applications for payments at the edge of the grid network for EV charging,” said Wally Hunter, Managing Director, EnerTech Capital.
“We are impressed by the scale and diversity of customers and partners turning to Car IQ and the ability to unlock new channels of customer engagement in a rapidly evolving landscape for the movement of people and goods. Car IQ Pay addresses critical pain points for fleets with a unified financial platform that streamlines operations while improving the experience of stakeholders across the board,” said Gian Vergnetti, Partner, EnerTech Capital.
As a leading firm in the mobility space, EnerTech has assumed a key role in building broad innovation partnerships, specifically working to create improved business engagement between industry leaders and early-stage innovation companies. EnerTech has a long history of deep engagement with corporate LPs in their funds since 1996 and has built a strong ecosystem in both the US and Canada.
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About EnerTech Capital
EnerTech Capital is a globally recognized venture capital firm that has been investing and partnering with innovators since 1996, empowering entrepreneurs to build transformative technology companies. The firm has pioneered an integrated approach to business building, leveraging strategic collaboration across a diverse stakeholder ecosystem to create value; with a focus on Mobility, Industry 4.0, and Connected Customer. EnerTech’s current platform has a significant focus on emerging opportunities in the mobility space across Electrification, Autonomy, Smart Mobility, and Connectivity. The firm has a long history of working with corporate strategic investors and providing value added insights and partnership opportunities to support growth and innovation objectives.
EnerTech has offices in Toronto, Philadelphia, Palm Beach Gardens, Boston, and Sacramento.
For more information, visit: www.EnerTechCapital.com
CONTACT: Wally Hunter: 416-363-8563 or WHunter@EnerTechCapital.com
About Car IQ
Car IQ® has created a payment network for cars that eliminates the need for physical credit cards and enables vehicles to connect to merchants and transact securely. Using Car IQ Pay vehicles can automatically initiate and complete payments for services ranging from fueling, toll management, paid parking, EV charging, and more. Car IQ's payment solution delivers value by reducing fraud and risk for fleets and participating merchants.
For more information, visit https://www.gocariq.com
CONTACT: Cheryl Delgreco: 617-723-4004 or cdelgreco@msipr.com
