Coast Raises $40 Million Series B to Accelerate Adoption of Modern Fleet Payments
Coast, a New York-based company offering fleet spending management solutions, has raised $40 million in Series B financing led by ICONIQ Growth. This brings Coast's total equity financing to nearly $100 million. The round included participation from existing and new investors, as well as a strategic investment from Synchrony.
Coast's platform reimagines fleet payments using mobile technology and vehicle telematics. The company has seen revenue growth of over ten times in the last 18 months. Surveyed customers reported average savings of 9-10% on fuel bills and 16 hours of monthly administrative work.
With the new funding, Coast plans to accelerate product and partnership development, expand its financial services offerings, and grow its team, including at its new second headquarters in Utah.
- Raised $40 million in Series B financing, bringing total equity financing to nearly $100 million
- Revenue growth of over ten times in the last 18 months
- Customers reported average savings of 9-10% on fuel bills and 16 hours of monthly administrative work
- Strategic investment from Synchrony, a leading consumer financial services company
- Launched a new mobile app for transaction data collection and verification
- New partnerships with BuildOps, Sheetz, and 7-Eleven
- None.
Insights
The recent $40 million Series B financing for Coast, led by ICONIQ Growth, is undeniably a significant financial milestone. This brings Coast's total equity financing to nearly
From a financial perspective, the Series B funding will likely be used to fuel Coast's expansion initiatives, product development and new partnerships, as mentioned. The strategic investment from Synchrony, a major player in consumer financial services, can be viewed as a vote of confidence in Coast’s business model. However, it's essential to assess whether the capital will be deployed effectively to drive revenue and market share growth. Additionally, the entry of a new board member from ICONIQ Growth indicates active involvement and potential strategic direction from the investors, which could steer the company positively.
For the short term, investors might expect a surge in operational expenses as Coast scales its operations. Long-term benefits could include expanded market presence and revenue streams from new services beyond fleet payments, such as accounts payable automation. Investors should keep a close eye on future financial disclosures to see how effectively the new funds are being utilized and whether it translates into sustained growth.
Coast's innovative approach to fleet payments is not just a technological upgrade but a disruptive shift in a market valued at
The challenge for investors is to gauge the longevity and competitive edge of Coast's product offerings. The company's ability to save customers 9-10% on fuel bills and reduce administrative workload by 16 hours monthly is a strong competitive advantage. However, investors should consider the sustainability of these savings and whether Coast can continue to innovate and maintain its edge over traditional fuel cards.
Understanding market dynamics, particularly the incumbents' response and new entrants, will be critical. The endorsement by top-tier investors like ICONIQ and Synchrony suggests that Coast's market position is strong, but constant monitoring of market share and innovation pipeline is vital.
From a technological standpoint, Coast's approach is quite forward-thinking. The integration of mobile technology and state-of-the-art vehicle data and telematics is a game-changer in the fleet management industry. The recent launch of their mobile app and virtual cards can streamline and enhance the user experience, making it easier to manage fleet payments and administrative tasks.
For investors, it's important to understand the underlying technology architecture and its scalability. The successful adoption of these new technologies by thousands of businesses indicates robustness and reliability. However, investors should consider potential technological risks, such as cybersecurity threats and data privacy concerns, which could impact user trust and regulatory compliance.
In the long term, the adaptability of Coast’s technology to incorporate new financial services like accounts payable automation will be key. Their capacity to integrate with various partners and platforms also suggests a flexible and scalable system architecture, which is promising for future growth and diversification.
Coast also announced a strategic investment from Synchrony, a leading consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry's most complete digitally-enabled product suites across diverse sectors. The investment in Coast aligns with Synchrony's presence in the aftermarket auto segment where it partners with many top national tire, petrol, auto parts and maintenance retailers like Discount Tire and Pep Boys.
ICONIQ Growth General Partner Yoonkee Sull has joined Coast's board of directors as part of the new funding. The Series B brings Coast's total equity financing to nearly
For the nearly one million American businesses that collectively operate around 40 million vehicles in their commercial fleets – including field service businesses like HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, pest control, construction, government fleets and long-haul trucking – managing expenses in the field is a major challenge.
Over the decades, a handful of incumbent payment solutions have emerged to serve fleet-operating companies' needs with fuel cards, to allow fleet managers to set field-specific controls, like restricting purchases to only fuel products, or tracking expenses on a per-vehicle basis. The fleet fuel payments on these specialized cards add up to a staggering
"We're thrilled to be partnering with ICONIQ Growth, a legendary investor in fintech, and fleet and field services," said Coast founder and CEO Daniel Simon. "ICONIQ brings to bear not just their deep capital base but also their rich experience in Coast's domains and expansive community, which can drive partnerships and accelerate expansion for Coast's fleet product."
Coast reimagines fleet payments, enabled by mobile technology and state-of-the-art vehicle data and telematics. The company has seen its revenue grow over ten times in the last 18 months. Thousands of businesses are now using Coast, some with just a handful of fleet cards, and others with more than 1,000 cards. Surveyed customers saved an average of 9
"Companies like Coast do not come along every day. We are incredibly impressed with Coast's proven traction, leadership, and deep expertise in fintech," said Yoonkee Sull. "We believe Daniel and team are using exceptional software to challenge incumbents in a massive market and making a difference in hundreds of thousands of American businesses. We are thrilled to partner with them on their mission to simplify the day-to-day management of thousands of fleets."
This month, Coast launched a first-of-its-kind mobile app that eases the collection and verification of transaction data for fleet payments, such as receipts, memos, and job codes, which can be pushed to its customers' accounting systems. It has also expanded the use of virtual cards, shared team budgets, and spend programs to simplify back-office purchasing for its trades and transportation business customers.
Building on their momentum, Coast has inked new partnerships with BuildOps, Sheetz and 7-Eleven, adding to a growing list of partners across retailers, fuel brands, and technology providers.
Coast will use the new funding to accelerate its product and partnership development, including expanding to other financial services needs of its business customers, such as accounts payable automation and bill payments, and adding to its growing list of integration partners. The company will also continue to grow its team, including at its newly established second headquarters in
About Coast
Coast is re-imagining the trillion-dollar US B2B card payments infrastructure, with a focus on the country's 500,000 commercial fleets, 40 million commercial vehicles, and many million commercial drivers. Drivers, fleets, and the merchants that serve them all increasingly demand modern digital payments experiences and affordable and transparent financial services products. Coast's mission is to deliver them at a transformational scale and to improve working lives in one of the country's biggest industry sectors. Coast is founded and led by Daniel Simon, who previously co-founded digital payments platform Bread, which was acquired by Alliance Data Systems for more than
About ICONIQ Growth
ICONIQ Growth partners with visionaries defining the future of their industries to transform the world. Our investment platform and unique ecosystem helps amplify our portfolio companies' success from early growth stage to IPO and beyond. Our portfolio includes Adyen, Airbnb, Alibaba, Alteryx, Automattic, BambooHR, Braze, Chime, Collibra, Coupa, Datadog, Docusign, Gitlab, Marqeta, Miro, Procore, Red Ventures, Relativity, ServiceTitan, Snowflake, Sprinklr, Truckstop, Uber, Wolt, and Zoom, among others. For more information, please visit https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth.
About Synchrony
Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry's most complete digitally-enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoor, pet and more. We have an established and diverse group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations and healthcare service providers, which we refer to as our "partners." We connect our partners and consumers through our dynamic financial ecosystem and provide them with a diverse set of financing solutions and innovative digital capabilities to address their specific needs and deliver seamless, omnichannel experiences. We offer the right financing products to the right customers in their channel of choice. For more information, visit www.synchrony.com.
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