Carketa,a Utah-based developer of SaaS applications for automotive dealerships, has announced the appointment of technology investor and operator Tim Hansen as CEO.
Hansen has spent his career advising, investing in and operating software companies. After a run investing in or sourcing early-stage companies at Pelion Venture Partners and Peterson Ventures, including Allbirds, Divvy, Lucid Software and Ethos Life Insurance, Hansen served as vice president of corporate and business development at Weave Communications, which went public in November 2021.
Co-founder Brady Thurgood, who has been serving as CEO of Carketa, will continue to build out the revenue function of the company, a Carketa release said.
“As Carketa continues to grow and expand throughout the automotive and powersports industry, we are so excited to welcome Tim to the Carketa team,” said Thurgood. “His vast experience will help expedite the vision of Carketa at hyper-speed.”
Since launching in 2019, Carketa has built a base of more than 500 customers and has facilitated the inspection, reconditioning and disposition of tens of thousands of vehicles through its software platform.
“Carketa is making waves in an otherwise slow-to-innovate industry. The No. 1 barrier to growth for automotive dealerships is the working capital tied up in inventory that needs to be prepared for sale and then sold,” said Hansen. “Carketa helps dealers unlock that working capital by accelerating inventory turns, cutting waste in spend and providing better transparency to all stakeholders in the car buying process. I’m so excited to be working with a team that has such a wealth of knowledge in this industry and a hunger to help automotive dealerships take full advantage of modern technology to grow their bottom line.”