Digitech Venture Capital Fund, along with technology incubator Seed Sumo and Jason Calacanis, have invested in CarForce, a company that develops connected cars.
CarForce was founded by a former eBay Motors executive and has a stellar advisory team. CarForce has already made a name for itself in the tech community, from winning Global Entrepreneur of the Year presented by IBM at LAUNCH Festival 2016 and Mobility Startup of the Year at SXSW’s Hatch Pitch 2016.
CarForce founder and CEO, Jessika Lora said: “The vehicle service side of the automotive industry has been overlooked by technology companies, but paradoxically it’s where 60% of the operating income comes from.
“This was a logical choice as we saw a major customer pain point, a huge automotive vehicle service market, and vastly outdated technology. This is a market that was overdue for CarForce’s innovation!”
CarForce is ahead of the curve by providing their vehicle dealership customers with a way to retrofit the 162 million smart-capable but disconnected vehicles already on the road with a way to seamlessly share maintenance and safety data with CarForce’s cloud-based platform.
Digitech CEO Paul Watson said: “I saw Jessika’s presentation at the Seed Sumo Demo Day and was immediately impressed with her experience, ability to clearly communicate their vision, and tremendous earning potential.
“We certainly look forward to playing an active role in CarForce’s growth and hope we can keep her team in Texas!”
CarForce is currently targeting roughly 18k franchise dealers that represent over half of the $147B annual parts and service industry with an initial focus on Texas and California, then expand nationally.