Mobile car-servicing startup Spiffy ready for more growth after landing another $10M
Fresh off raising $22 million from investors last fall, Durham-based Spiffy, a provider of on-demand car servicing, is adding another $10 million to its Series B investment round.
The money will continue the company’s quest to expand its services into the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S. and expand headcount at its headquarters in Durham.
Founded in 2014 by longtime Triangle entrepreneur Scot Wingo, Spiffy offers on-demand car washes, oil-and-tire changes and some maintenance work through its app. However, its main customers are rental companies and corporate fleets.
So far, it operates in 36 markets and employs hundreds of technicians across the country. Wingo said it expects to add to that total this year.
Spiffy’s previous investors include Tribeca Venture Partners, the investment arms of both the tire maker Goodyear and the oil company Shell, and local investor Bull City Venture Partners.
Its latest $10 million comes from New Jersey-based Edison Partners, which has invested in companies such as 15Five and Slingshot Aerospace.
“Spiffy has grown into a formidable leader within the mobile car care industry — making it easier for both consumer and fleet clientele to save time with truly convenient services, something we have seen gain exponential value coming out of the pandemic,” Lenard Marcus, general partner at Edison Partners, said in a statement.
“We’ve enjoyed watching their team consistently rise to overcome new challenges for their customers and look forward to supporting their continued growth in the months and years ahead.”
Spiffy has 55 employees at its Durham headquarters at the moment, and Wingo said it plans to bring on 20 to 30 more workers there this year. Many of those positions, he said, will be in software engineering, finance and sales and marketing.
The company has declined to share revenue numbers or its valuation.
In recent years, Spiffy has expanded in the U.S. through acquisitions and franchise agreements.
In 2019, the startup acquired the Florida-based Your Location Lubrication, in a deal that more than doubled its size. Last year, it bought a company called Pit Crew, which had a presence in Tennessee. In markets with fewer than a million residents, like Greenville and Charleston, South Carolina, Wingo said Spiffy is more likely to use franchise agreements to grow.
In addition to Spiffy, Wingo, a former CEO of the Morrisville e-commerce firm ChannelAdvisor, has been active in the Triangle startup scene in recent months.
In December, he launched the Triangle Tweener Fund, an investment firm that targets so called “tweener companies,” which have revenues of at least $1 million or employ more than 10 people.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Mobile car-servicing startup Spiffy ready for more growth after landing another $10M."
