Fair, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based vehicle subscription app, closed a $100m debt facility and an equity investment from Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY).
The debt facility, provided by Ally Bank to a subsidiary of Fair, is designed to help the fintech startup secure vehicles for entry-level car customers who might not otherwise qualify for a traditional loan or lease.
Ally joins Fair’s list of credit providers, which include: Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Silicon Valley Bank. The Ally facility and investment followws a SoftBank-led $385m Series B last year, which included investments from Exponential Ventures, Munich Re Venture’s ERGO Fund, G Squared, Expanding Capital and CreditEase.
Fair and Ally initiated a strategic alliance in 2018 that includes Fair using Ally’s SmartAuction and Clearlane tools to manage vehicle inventory and provide customer access to an alternative to traditional financing channels. Under its pilot program in Southern California and South Florida, Fair is using Clearlane, Ally’s digital financing platform, to help consumers who can’t otherwise secure traditional financing.
Fair is also using Ally’s digital wholesale auto auction tool, SmartAuction, to acquire and remarket vehicles.
Led by Scott Painter, Founder and CEO, and Georg Bauer, Co-Founder and Chairman, Fair is a mobile app that puts the entire end-to-end process of getting a car on a customer’s phone. Qualified users can shop pre-owned cars based on all-in monthly payments they can afford, sign for the one they want, pick up their keys and drive it for as long as they want—with no long-term commitment, debt or even physical paperwork.
Since launching in August 2017, the company has provided cars for more than 45,000 users in more than 30 markets across the United States.
FinSMEs
27/08/2019