Bumper, a UK-based startup providing buy now pay later (BNPL) services for car repair financing, has raised $12m (£9.04m) in its latest funding round.
This series A funding was led by Silicon Valley-based Autotech Ventures, with participation from Porsche Ventures and Jaguar Land Rover’s fund InMotion Ventures.
The funding round, which also saw cash provided by angel investors, brings the total funding raised by Bumper to £13.19m.
Bumper is planning to use the funds to fuel its expansion to Germany, Spain and the Netherlands in the next three months. It plans to move into more European markets by the end of 2022.
The company will bolster its employee headcount and increase its marketing efforts for its business to consumer offerings. Bumper is developing a consumer app designed to help consumers with payments for congestion charges, parking and tolls, and approving repair work. The app is expected to launch in the UK by January 2022.
Founded in 2013 as Auto Service Finance, Bumper provides a digital payment platform for vehicle repairs and services via a BNPL model. The service lets consumers spread costs, split ills and the startup says its lending is based on aggregating “thousands” of consumer finance data.
It also partners with car manufacturers, including original equipment manufacturers such as Volkswagen Group, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, among others.
It claims that 60% of the UK’s franchised dealer market currently uses its payment platform. Bumper says its business partners can increase repair conversion rates while reducing discount and price negotiations. It said it has been profitable for the last 18 months.
“Bumper offers a simple alternative to unexpected car repairs,” said James Jackson, CEO and co-founder, Bumper. “It’s a very different proposition to other BNPL services, as we’re not encouraging people to buy things they don’t need, we’re enabling them to purchase necessary repairs at an affordable rate. We’ve seen huge demand for expanding the services we offer, and are looking forward to bringing Bumper to customers across Europe.”
Bumper isn’t the only company to have embraced the BNPL model. British digital bank Monzo, which recently raised $500m in its latest funding round, is currently exploring BNPL services to take on rivals such as Klarna and others.
However, the UK government is looking at ways to regulate the currently unregulated BNPL model and has launched a consultation.
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