NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2021 — Octane™ (Octane Lending Inc.®), the industry leader in digital products supporting consumers, dealerships, and OEMs throughout the buying journey for major recreational purchases, today announced it has raised $52 million in Series D funding. Progressive Investment Company, Inc., a member of the Progressive Insurance ® group, led the round, with participation from existing investors Valar Ventures, Upper90, Contour Venture Partners, Citi Ventures, Third Prime and Parkwood as well as new investors Gaingels and ALIVE. This brings the company’s valuation to over $900 million with over $192 million in total equity funding raised to date.
The new round of financing will further Octane’s mission to connect people with their passion. Octane is the only fintech in its verticals that enables transactions from start to finish, including editorial content, consumer prequalification tools, instant full-spectrum financing and digital deal closing. Octane is growing quickly because it makes purchases faster and simpler for consumers and dealers. The new capital will be used to scale Octane’s buying solution for consumers shopping for powersports vehicles online, grow its family of 3,800 dealership partners and 40 OEM and brand partners—which include BRP, Suzuki, and Triumph Motorcycles—and expand to adjacent markets.
“We’re thrilled to embark on the next phase of growth backed by Progressive Insurance and our existing partners, who wholeheartedly believe in our mission of connecting people with their passion,” said CEO Jason Guss. “We are winning in the market because we offer a faster lending experience that also covers more consumers than competitors, and we engage shoppers earlier in the process to streamline transactions.”
Octane makes major recreational purchases seamless by adding value at each stage in the buying journey. Octane does this by inspiring and informing enthusiasts through media brands such as Cycle World and UTV Driver, acquired in 2020 along with five other titles, prequalifying consumers instantly on dealer and OEM websites and helping consumers find a dealership for a simple closing experience. Partnerships with select OEMs enable Octane to offer loans with promotional rates through its in-house lender, Roadrunner Financial.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to invest in Octane,” said Andrew Quigg, Chief Strategy Officer at Progressive Insurance. “Technology and consumers’ needs continue to evolve and Octane’s point-of-sale loan origination platform provides benefits to consumers and dealerships in a specialty segment of the lending market. We like to partner with innovative, forward-thinking companies and believe that our investment in Octane aligns very well with this strategy.”
When embedded on partnered dealership and OEM websites, Octane’s prequalification product has a customer Net Promoter Score of 90 and has increased conversion rates by as much as 7X. Meanwhile, Octane’s point-of-sale offerings enable finance managers at dealerships to close installment loans in as few as five minutes. Octane expects to originate over $1 billion in the next 12 months, has doubled revenue annually for three years, and is net-income and cash-flow positive.
