GoMoto, a startup that is reengineering the car-shopping experience, is launching its first showroom experience in two weeks. GoMoto was cofounded by Todd Marcelle, Ben Catanese and Marc Rubino. Though the company is based out of Fishbowl Labs in Dulles, Va., the launch event will take place Nov. 15 in King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia, Pa., where two of the three cofounders work.
"We're making it easier for consumers to buy cars," Marcelle says. "GoMoto was founded by three car guys. We're not product engineers from Stanford. We know this industry and how to attack problems from both the consumer and the retail/manufacturer side." Catanese owns a Volkswagen dealership and Rubino founded a previous startup in the automotive inventory management sphere called
Redline.
GoMoto has two components. The company provides interactive digital screens in public places, such as malls and stadiums, that give consumers side-by-side comparisons of different vehicles. The displays track consumer interactions in real time and aggregate the data--including gender, ethnicity and age demographics--for advertisers, dealerships and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).
"We want to show advertisers that we can measure response rates [to our displays]," Marcelle explains, adding that measuring response rates to typical ad campaigns, such as commercials, is challenging. GoMoto has partnered with Simon Malls to provide displays in their properties.
GoMoto has partnered with Ford to launch the second component of its product, in the showroom. In addition to the digital displays, consumers can download a GoMoto app that unlocks a test vehicle in the showroom and allows them to check out its features and schedule a test drive. Marcelle says that using the app alleviates consumer anxiety over entering showrooms and dealing with pushy salespeople.
For its part, Ford gets branded displays in its showrooms, the aforementioned app, an analytics dashboard to track consumer intercation and an enterprise platform to manage all the data.
When GoMoto placed a display in a dealership as a test, representatives from Ford contacted the company and asked to "co-opt the technology. They said, 'We want to give consumers a new way to experience our cars,'" Marcelle explains.
Though he won't give specifics, Marcelle says that GoMoto is looking forward to "significant growth opportunities." The company, which currently has eight full-time employees, is looking to bring on two more developers, and is also looking for growth capital in the form of a seed round to "help build our tech infrastructure."