10:27 am, July 8, 2021
Used car platform Heycar’s parent company has a new backer – the digital investment arm of insurance giant Allianz.
The capital injection into Mobility Trader Holding GmbH by Allianz X sees it join existing investors including Volkswagen and Volkswagen Financial Services as well as Daimler Mobility.
As such, Allianz Partners will become Heycar’s insurance partner for the next five years.
The investment – for an undisclosed amount – will make customers’ car-buying journey even easier, said Heycar, as well as support Heycar Group’s continued European expansion. It began in Germany, then expanded to the UK and Spain.
Heycar Group chief executive Florian Schlieper said: ‘This investment is an important milestone for us, strengthening consumer trust in our brand and underlining our position as a leading digital platform for high-quality used cars and services.
‘At the same time, it enables us to offer unique product combinations in co-operation with our partners and investors from different industries.
‘This will help us further differentiate Heycar from its direct competitors in the market.’
He added: ‘In Allianz, we not only gain a new investor but above all a resourceful and globally renowned partner that will broaden the trust of existing and potential customers in our quality offering.
‘Thanks to the new partnership, we are now in a position to develop new digital products along the customer journey even faster.’
Heycar UK CEO Mat Moakes said: ‘Driving change in the marketplace is a fundamental objective for us.
‘By partnering with Allianz we can build on our achievements, allowing us to provide a stand-out experience for customers and dealers as we move towards e-commerce in both the UK and continental Europe.’
Allianz said that by partnering with Heycar Group it was further committing to digital business models that had the potential to disrupt the mobility sector.
Tomas Kunzmann, CEO of mobility and assistance at Allianz Partners, said: ‘It proves once more that we are an attractive and reliable business partner to OEMs across regions, products and services, customers segments, and distribution channels.
‘We see various opportunities to realise joint business potential with fully embedded product solutions, expanding in existing markets and entering new ones.’
Allianz X CEO Nazim Cetin added: ‘We see healthy and sustainable growth potential in an OEM-backed, digital used car sales platform that covers both online and offline sales.
‘As more sales move online, customers need a partner they can trust to deliver high quality. That’s exactly what they’ll get with Heycar and Allianz.’
