Curbie Cars secures $7M seed financing led by Conexus Venture Capital

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By CPE News

CPE News (5/10/2021) – Curbie Cars Inc. has raised $7 million in seed funding led by Conexus Venture Capital Inc., with participation from SaskWorks and Broad Street Bulls.

In connection with the financing, Conexus’ Sean O’Connor and PFM Capital’s Adam Laprairie, will join Curbie board of directors.

Founded by Alex Cruder and Brent Gudelot in 2017, Saskatoon based Curbie Cars Inc. is Canada’s first fully-licensed online vehicle retailer. The company currently operates in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Curbie promises transparent, all-in pricing, a seven-day test-own period with a money-back guarantee, and free delivery to buyer’s home.

photo credit: Curbie Cars

News Release

Curbie announces the closing of a $7 million seed round

(Monday, May 10, 2021) – Today, Curbie Cars Inc. (‘Curbie’), a Canadian tech company that’s launched an online vehicle retail platform, announced the closing of a CAD$7 million seed round, led by Conexus Venture Capital Inc., with participation from SaskWorks and Broad Street Bulls.

The Saskatchewan-based company was started by Alex Cruder and Brent Gudelot in 2017, with a vision of creating a better car buying experience for customers. As they explored the space of used cars, they found that people were frustrated with the lack of transparency and time required in the car buying process. Moreover, they found that many wanted a fair price, to skip the haggling process and save the endless meetings and weekends with used car salespeople. With these problems in mind, Alex and Brent launched Curbie to offer Canadians the better way to buy a car.

Curbie is a direct-to-consumer technology platform in the second-hand vehicle industry, which gets rid of the middlemen, skips the hassles, and provides a new online car buying experience. Using cost savings from not having a physical dealership, commission sales people or costly overhead, Curbie offers piece-of-mind shopping including better prices and more features to its customers.

One of these features includes the 7-Day Test-Own feature. During development of Curbie, Alex and Brent found that people don’t like test driving a vehicle with a salesperson sitting next to them on a planned route. To address this problem, Curbie allows customers to test-own vehicles for 7 days on their terms, with a money-back guarantee if not completely satisfied. This customer-first mentality continues with features like free deliveries, 3-month/10,000km warranties, and 240-point inspections on all vehicles.

“The future of buying a car is quickly changing, and Canadians are demanding a more convenient and transparent process. Curbie has quickly become a market leader across the Canadian prairies, providing people with a car buying experience that’s built for their life” said Sean O’Connor, Head Managing Director, Conexus Venture Capital Inc. “Curbie has seen significant growth in sales over the past year, and continues to have exceptional customer feedback and reviews. We’re thrilled to be working with such strong founders in Alex and Brent, who have the blended expertise in both technology and the auto industry.”

Over the past year, Curbie has expanded across Western Canada, and is now live in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. This latest round of funding will allow Curbie to further expand in its key markets, increase their inventory and grow their team.

“We’re excited to be working with Conexus, SaskWorks and Broad Street Bulls,” said Alex Cruder, CEO of Curbie. “The new funding will enable us to grow our business 3-5x, bringing our better car buying experience to even more Canadians.” said Alex Cruder, CEO of Curbie.

Learn more about Curbie Cars Inc. at Curbie.ca or on social media: @CurbieCars
More information about Conexus Venture Capital Inc. can be found at Conexus.ca.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Janis Galloway | Curbie Cars | 780-965-1419 | galloway@pressandpost.com
Laura McKnight | Conexus Credit Union | 306-751-8201 | publicrelations@conexus.ca

ABOUT CURBIE CARS INC.

Curbie is Canada’s first fully-licensed online vehicle retailer. It was founded in Saskatoon in 2017 by Co-Founders Alex Cruder and Brent Gudelot and currently operates in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Curbie promises transparent, all-in pricing, a seven-day test-own period with a money-back guarantee, and free delivery to your home. Curbie offers only the best pre-owned vehicles and backs that up by providing a free 3-month/10,000 km warranty on every vehicle. We’re Curbie, the better way to buy a car. Media kit with logos and imagery can be found here: http://bit.ly/CurbieCarsMediaKit

ABOUT CONEXUS VENTURE CAPITAL INC.

Founded in 2019 by Saskatchewan-based Conexus Credit Union, Conexus Venture Capital Inc. (CVC) invests time, knowledge and capital in Saskatchewan and Canadian high-growth startups, helping to fuel growth in the local innovation economy. CVC currently manages one fund, CVC Fund #1, and is building a second fund, Emmertech, slated to launch in 2021. To learn more, visit Conexus.ca.