Loopit’s mobility platform drives car subscription management and billing solutions for automakers, dealerships, fleet leasing, rental companies and startups.

The Tidal team recently made an investment into Loopit, and we're publishing our investment notes below. We invest across a range of markets, models and products. There are core principles that we live and die by in our investment decisions. For more information on the pillars that make a great Tidal Seed Investment, see how we invest here.

Markets with Tailwinds

With the transformation to cloud, consumers and businesses alike are consuming software online using subscription as the standard arrangement. This transformation is occurring across many other industries, and the automative industry is undergoing its own digital transformation that is set to change the way:

• consumers or businesses interact with car brands (e.g. Care by Volvo)
• consumers obtain the vehicle (e.g. subscribe to an EV through your energy provider)
• consumers experience the entire lifecycle of acquiring, running, managing, and selling a vehicle (e.g. subscribe to a car, maintained by the vendor, only fill fuel, return it when done or swap they vehicle if the plan allows it)

We believe that there is a compelling case emerging for the growth of car subscriptions as a viable alternative to long term rental, leasing, and ownership in many cases.

This transition is aligned with changing consumer behaviour that seeks greater flexibility and convenience around mobility. There is waning interest in owning physical products, particularly among younger generations; hybrid and remote work is changing the way cars are used, and climate consciousness and improving infrastructure are driving a shift to electric vehicles. In addition to being highly flexible, vehicle subscription programs are also perceived as being more cost-effective than traditional car leases, rentals, or outright purchases. The experience of buying and selling a car can be tedious, and, factoring in on-road costs, registration, taxes, servicing, and depreciation, the total cost of ownership is often under-estimated by more than 50%.

In parallel, the auto industry is undergoing its own transformation. Tesla has led the way, disrupting the industry through both its car and its go-to-market approach. Newer micro-mobility categories (e.g. e-bikes, scooters) were born online and have been early adopters of a subscription model, and now the traditional car industry more broadly is transitioning to online retail, which will emphases personalisation and better customer communication.

We expect the subscription market to continue to grow at pace through improvements in price competitiveness, the customer experience, and consumer awareness. According to market research, the current vehicle subscription market is US$4.1B and will grow at 22.8% CAGR to 2030 to a market size of +$31.7B. Over the next eight years, BCG estimates that up to 15% of new car sales will be via a subscription.

Products that change the game

Loopit provides a turnkey subscription management solution that helps automakers, car dealerships, fleet rental companies and startups to introduce car subscription offerings to their own customers.

Loopit’s SaaS platform facilitates the end-to-end subscription process, providing mobility companies with the ability to control, configure, and provide a subscription offering quickly and easily. The platform handles the customer-facing touchpoints such as onboarding, billing, and ongoing customer management, as well as back-office management features such as management of inventory, pricing, and utilisation.

This is game changing for both new entrants who wish to get to market quickly, and existing automotive players who largely run their businesses on legacy platforms that are tailored to other customer models.