Fresh Capital for Online Car Purchase Platform, Instamotion

Instamotion, the platform for buying used cars, receives €24 million in Series B funding led by G+J Digital Ventures in cooperation with the Ad Alliance. Existing investors, Earlybird and THI Investments, as well as Dublin-based ACT Ventures, also participated in the current round.

Munich, March 2, 2021

Following its Series A financing of €7 million in November 2019, Instamotion closes another significant funding round. The e-commerce and mobility company receives €24 million for its future expansion in its current Series B and has thereby raised over €30 million of capital in less than 1.5 years. The Series B is led by G+J Digital Ventures, the Venture Funds of Bertelsmann subsidiary Gruner + Jahr, in cooperation with the Ad Alliance, the media marketing company of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and Gruner + Jahr.
Instamotion will use the additional capital to accelerate its expansion and extend its technological lead. As an independent provider, the company is offering a simple, secure, worry-free, and fully digital car buying experience in Germany.

Including financing with instant commitment, insurance, registration and delivery to the user's own door, Instamotion enables a completely digital experience of purchasing a car. In just 15 minutes, a user can choose his or her own car from a selection of more than 30,000 immediately available, expert-approved, pre-owned cars and buy or finance them directly. All vehicles are a maximum of 5 years old and have run less than 100,000 km. The purchase is worry-free for the customer: the buyer receives a 14 -day right of return and a 12-month all-inclusive Allianz guarantee, including a Europe-wide Roadside Assistance from Allianz, also a shareholder in Instamotion.

Dr. Nikolas Deskovic, CEO of Instamotion, says: "People want easy access to their own car when making the second most important purchase decision in life. And that should be done simply, comfortably, and at as fair a price as possible. This has become more important, especially during Corona times. Our mission is to enable a new way of buying a car by building a compelling end-to-end experience for our users and offering car purchase as an all-round service. To make this possible, we are consistently digitizing all processes along the car buying value chain. The investment by G+J Digital Ventures in cooperation with the Ad Alliance, will give us access to the TV, digital and print reach of the Gruner + Jahr brands and Mediengruppe RTL, enabling us to build a strong market communication."

Beate Koch, Managing Director of G+J Ventures: "Instamotion is an e-commerce and mobility company that has created an attractive end-to-end car buying solution thanks to its strict customer focus. We are convinced that the trend of buying a car online will prevail in Europe as much as it is trending in the US today. We are very much looking forward to working with great co-investors to accelerate Instamotion's growth story and to support the team in its strategic goal of becoming Europe’s market leader.

Ute Henzgen, General Director Sales at Ad Alliance: "The investment in Instamotion is a great starting point to further expand the start-up business together with G+J Digital Ventures. We want to support promising and innovative companies on their way to success to become well-known quickly. Start-ups like Instamotion are benefitting in particular from the combined media power of both Bertelsmann companies. Their wide-reaching TV, print and digital channels, with their unique cross-media opportunities, offer a perfect foundation for future success."

Instamotion operates in a high-growth market: according to current DAT report of 2021, 30% of customers searching for a used car are ready to buy it fully online.

About Instamotion

Instamotion is a new car buying platform for an easy, convenient, safe, and new way to buy a used car. At Instamotion, premium used cars can be selected from over 30,000 pre-selected, immediately available vehicles, and purchased or financed completely online. All vehicles are checked by experts and are a max. of 5 years old with a max. of 100,000 km driven. The doorstep-delivery takes place pre-insured and pre-registered, completely without collection stress for the customer. All Instamotion cars have at least a 1-year all-inclusive Allianz warranty a well as valid general inspection. For the customer, the purchase is protected by a satisfaction-guaranteed, 14-day right of return, if the new car is not suitable.

The Munich-based company was founded in 2016 and the company’s management has many years of experience in the automotive and internet industries. Instamotion counts leading venture capital and corporate venture capital investors, such as Earlybird, ACT Ventures, THI Investments and G+J Digital Ventures as well as strategic investors such as Allianz as supporters.

For more information, visit: www.instamotion.com

About G+ J Digital Ventures

G+J Digital Ventures is a subsidiary of Gruner + Jahr GmbH. The venture capital unit focuses on investments in fast-growing and innovative companies. In addition to cash investment, G+J Digital Ventures offers its portfolio companies access to various TV, digital and print brands of the Gruner + Jahr and Mediengruppe RTL, and can draw on the complementary knowledge, network and resources of G+J and Bertelsmann.

Find further information: www.gujdv.com

About Earlybird

Earlybird is a venture capital investor focused on European technology companies. Founded in 1997, Earlybird invests in all growth and development phases of a company. Amongst the most experienced venture investors in Europe, Earlybird offers its portfolio companies not only financial resources, but also strategic and operational support as well as access to an international network and capital markets. Earlybird manages different funds with focuses on digital technologies in Eastern and Western Europe as well as health technologies.

With EUR 1.5 billion under management, seven IPOs and 30 trade sales, Earlybird is one of the most successful venture capital firms in Europe.

For further information: www.earlybird.com, Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/EarlybirdVC. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/earlybird-venture-capital or Facebook: www.facebook.com/EarlybirdVC

About THI Investments

THI Investments is a single family office based in Stuttgart, Germany. The company has a diversified portfolio of financial and alternative investments, but also invests directly in innovative and market-leading companies with the aim of supporting these companies on their long-term growth path.

For further information: www.thi-investments.com

About ACT

Act Venture Capital partners with visionary European founders from start-up to scale-up to create the most innovative companies. Founded in 1994, it is one of the longest established VC firms in Europe, and based in Dublin, Ireland. Act‘s focus is to find and support the best startups to scale into large, category-defining companies. We span technology sectors and range investments from seed to growth. Act has raised over €500m across multiple funds and this investment is made from its fifth fund, Act V.

For more information: www.actventure.capital , Twitter https://twitter.com/ActVC, and Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/act-venturecapital