Beepi Raises $5 Million From Redpoint To Simplify Buying Or Selling A Used Car

A new marketplace called Beepi recently launched to replace an increasingly outdated process for buying or selling a used car. That company, which recently launched in the Bay Area in public beta, is looking to grow quickly thanks to $5 million in new funding from Redpoint Ventures and other investors.

If you’ve ever tried to buy or sell a used car, you know how frustrating it can be. Sellers frequently take low offers from dealerships or underprice vehicles they try to sell themselves, while buyers can find themselves overpaying — or worse, buying a car and having it fall apart soon afterward.

Beepi seeks to alleviate those issues by creating a peer-to-peer marketplace for used cars in which sellers can list their cars and get a price that is guaranteed to be above what they might have received from a dealership. After a seller attempts to list their car, Beepi will make an initial offer which it calculates at $1,000 above what dealerships might offer.

But that’s just the lowest price a seller might receive. After inspecting the car, the Beepi team will spend the next 30 days trying to sell it to interested buyers. If they don’t succeed, Beepi will buy the vehicle for the original price quoted.

Meanwhile, buyers can take heart in knowing that the cars listed have gone through an intensive 185-point inspection from certified technicians. They also receive a 10-day, no-questions-asked return policy on the cars they agree to buy, as well as a full three-month, 3,000-mile warranty on all parts and service.

All payment processing and title transfer is handled by Beepi, which takes a 9-percent cut of the transaction. Buyers can pay through a bank account transfer or use up to five credit cards to purchase a vehicle.

If for whatever reason a buyer isn’t satisfied and wants to return the car, the seller need not worry — Beepi will buy the car back and then seek to sell it all over again.

While the marketplace has been in beta since February, it’s seen a solid amount of interest, all of which has come through word of mouth. The Beepi team is buying about two cars a day, and it currently has more than 5,000 buyers who have registered with the platform.

But right now Beepi is only serving the San Francisco Bay Area — something it hopes to change soon. To that end, the company is announcing it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from OLX founder Fabrice Grinda, iVillage co-founder Tina Sharkey, Homeaway co-founder Brian Sharples, former Loopnet CEO Rich Boyle, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Along with the new round of financing, Redpoint’s Jeff Brody will be joining Beepi’s board of directors. The company had previously raised $1.2 million in seed funding.

Beepi currently has 15 people between its engineering, operations and inspections team. With the new funding, it will look to grow that number to improve its technology and scale up operations.

Photo Credit: “Caveman Chuck” Coker via Compfight cc