Irish start-up Drive Inc raises €1m to fuel expansion

Drive Inc, an Irish start-up behind a number of mobile solutions focused on online car sales, has raised €1 million from backers.

Founded by Conor O'Boyle and Shane Ennis in 2019, Drive Inc is the parent company of second-hand car sales app Sweep, which allows consumers to search more than 30,000 vehicles from more than 400 trusted dealerships. It is also behind TradeBid, a recently launched digital trade marketplace for dealers.

The company, which intends to use the new financing in part to increase employee numbers from 20 to up to 35, is also in the process of rolling out Nevo, an electric vehicle-focused online solution that includes a route planner highlighting charging stations and providing precise range estimates.

Among the company’s backers are Seod Ventures, an Irish venture capital led by Seamus O’Donnchadha that has also invested in Educatly, Snapfix and Lintil.

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The new funding brings to €1.7 million the total raised by Drive Inc to date. Mr O’Boyle told The Irish Times, the group is now focused on closing a Series A round of between €5 million and €10 million by year-end.

Snooker

Prior to founding Drive Inc, Mr O’Boyle spent a number of years working as a trader. He also briefly managed professional snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan. His co-founder, meanwhile, was one of the founding team behind audio journalism app Noa.

“We have built a talented team of automotive industry experts, technologists and marketers to connect consumers to dealerships, and dealerships to one another in a fast-evolving industry,” said Mr O’Boyle.

“When we set up the company it was to bring something to the Irish car motor industry that hadn’t been done previously, which was to appeal to a whole new generation of car buyers.

“With Sweep, we essentially came up with a Tinder-style solution that has proven incredibly popular with over 20 million swipes from users to date. With TradeBid, we’ve widened out our focus with another hit solution and we are extremely optimistic on how we can help drivers make the switch to electric vehicles through the rollout of Nevo,” added Mr Boyle.