DriverSide raises $5.3 million for car advice site

March 12, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments |

DriverSide has raised $5.3 million in a second round of funding for its site that gives advice to car owners.

The idea behind the site is to help drivers get the most out of their cars — a message that the company says works well in a recession. The site also helps owners buy or sell cars. Unlike other sites, the company says it focuses on the entire lifecycle of car ownership, from purchase to disposal or sale.

DriverSide will use the money to invest in revenue-generating partnerships with automotive services companies. Allegis Capital came aboard as a new investor and led this recent round, which also included earlier backers Catamount Ventures and the San Francisco company’s founders. To date, the company has raised $8.4 million. It also announced a new partnership today with Integrated Services, maker of LubeSoft, a cash register management system for lube shop owners.

Starting in April, DriverSide will create online customer “garages” for Integrated Services’ lube shop operators, which number more than 2,500. These virtual garages keep consumers updated on car care issues by sending regular automated email alerts for servicing, recalls and other news.

The company was founded in the fall of 2007 by Trevor Traina, Jad Dunning and Adam Jackson. It has 25 employees. Both Dunning, chief executive of DriverSide, and Traina have worked together in the past at CompareNet, which was sold to Microsoft, and StepUp Commerce, which was sold to Intuit.

There are, of course, a ton of car sites out there from Cars.com to Car Talk. Other recent entrants include RepairPal. DriverSide released its beta site in June of 2008 and will formally launch the site later this year. It has 250,000 registered users and has recorded several million unique visitors.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Trevor is a sharp cookie, and if you ever want a neat backstory, talk to his folks... his mom might have more column inches over the years than you, Dean.
  • Credit crunch? What credit crunch! :0)
  • Badcar
    Without a doubt the WORST car site on the web. trevor has fooled investors before....

    yikes...nothing works on this site
  • I think this is the good idea. And one thing which is important is that it should show the benefits of having one not the features.