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Carvana acquires Car360 for $22M to improve its car-buying platform

Carvana is already an innovative way to shop for a car, and it could get better thanks to Car360. The two companies share an interest in improving the car-buying experience through enhanced imagery. Car360's approach is different from Carvana's, as it's focused on photos shot with a mobile device. This approach could allow Carvana to accelerate and scale its operations as it currently leans on expensive DSLR rigs to capture most of its imagery.

The deal cost Carvana $6.7 million in cash and issued $15.2 million in new stock, putting the total acquisition price around $22 million. All 16 of Car360's employees, including founder Bruno Francois, CEO John Hanger and chief computer vision scientist Grant Schindler, Ph.D., will stay with Carvana. Car360 had raised $3.9 million through two funding rounds, including funding from Mark Cuban after the app appeared on Shark Tank.

“Carvana and Car360 both believe in the power of putting amazing technology in the hands of the customer so they can make one of the largest purchase decisions of their life with transparency and confidence,” said Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana. “Bringing the Car360 team into the fold, we add even more entrepreneurial strength in computer vision, AR and app-based photo capture. This technology unlocks a number of exciting capabilities that will further our mission to change the way people buy cars.”

Car360 uses 3D computer vision, machine learning and AR tech to improve images taken of vehicles through a smartphone.

Carvana raised $300 million through three rounds of funding before going public in April of 2017. After an initial bust, company's stock has doubled since its public debut and is currently trading up on the day following this news.