NEW
YORK, March 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Coast,
which offers a simple and smart way for companies in the United States to manage fuel and fleet
spending, today announced it has raised $92
million in new funding. The round includes $25 million in equity capital led by existing
investors, including BoxGroup, Avid Ventures, Accel, Insight
Partners, and Better Tomorrow Ventures, as well as new investor
Vesey Ventures. The company also secured $67
million in committed debt capital from Silicon Valley Bank
and TriplePoint Capital.
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 now very large 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
$120 billion annually in the US.
Coast, led by founder and CEO Daniel
Simon, reimagines the fleet payments product category,
enabled by mobile technology and state-of-the-art vehicle data and
telematics.
Coast's software gives fleet managers powerful policies and
controls that they can tailor to the on-the-job needs of different
employees and vehicles in their fleets. It uses real-time
information that employee drivers provide through their phones, as
well as data from the onboard computers of company vehicles, to
authorize or flag transactions. For example, the fleet manager of a
commercial construction HVAC company could receive an alert if a
driver purchased unleaded gas when driving a company diesel
vehicle, indicating potential abuse; automatically block a
transaction when the attempted purchase is far from the current GPS
location of the vehicle; or pre-approve a one-time extra purchase
of on-the-road supplies at Home Depot with a simple, automated SMS
workflow.
"We've been amazed by the pace of execution of Coast's business
since we first invested in the company at its founding, as well as
by the scope and consistency of Daniel's vision for financial tools
for fleet operating industries," BoxGroup Partner Adam Rothenberg
said about the round. "In the current market, it's more important
than ever to back companies that have shown they can achieve really
great unit economics by serving a well-understood need. We were
thrilled to find an opportunity to deepen our investment in Coast
and continue our partnership with Daniel."
The market has greeted Coast's offering with enthusiasm. The
company has grown its business more than fivefold in 2023, and it
now serves thousands of businesses, some with just a handful of
fleet cards and others with over 1,000. Surveyed customers saved an
average of 9-10% on their fuel bill and 16 hours of monthly
administrative work when switching to Coast from another fuel card
or payment method.
Coast software controls have been so effective in reducing abuse
and waste that the company recently rolled out a first-of-its-kind
security guarantee, promising to cover any losses for fuel theft up
to $25,000 annually for customers
that enable Coast's unique security settings.
To add to their momentum, Coast has inked partnerships with fuel
brands such as 7-Eleven Fleet (including Speedway), Casey's,
RaceTrac, and EG America brands (including Cumberland Farms), as
well as retailers like Discount Tire to offer larger discounts to
Coast customers while driving loyalty and repeat business for these
brands.
Coast also announced that it had entered into a relationship
with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, to accelerate its
fleet offering.
"Coast has been an innovative leader in fleet payments, and Visa
is excited to collaborate further with them to create a new
generation of offerings enabled by Coast's powerful expense
management software," said SVP, North America Head of Visa
Commercial Solutions Veronica Fernandez. "With Coast's
platform and Visa's advancement in fleet, together we can provide
more security, control, visibility, and reporting to all kinds of
fleet operators, for all of their vehicles, both gas and
electric."
Coast cards are issued by Celtic Bank, pursuant to a license
from Visa U.S.A. Inc.
With the new funding, the Coast team will focus on product
development, adding new integration partners as well as supporting
businesses expenses beyond fuel. The raise will also accelerate
Coast's go-to-market capability, including the establishment of a
second site in Salt Lake City.
"Coast is the financial platform for the future of
transportation and the trades," Simon said. "We are building a
holistic expense management and finance platform for
fleet-operating businesses. We're now well-positioned to expand our
product and get it in the hands of more fleet operators and
drivers."
Avid Ventures Founder and Managing Partner Addie Lerner said
that they are convinced the Coast team's vision is sound.
"Since initially partnering with Daniel and Coast over three
years ago, our conviction in the team's vision and execution
capabilities has only deepened," Lerner said. "This recent
investment makes Coast one of the largest positions in Avid's first
fund, reflecting our excitement in Coast's trajectory towards
reshaping the industry. The team and market opportunity, combined
with the company's best-in-class unit economics, rapidly evolving
product suite, and growing traction with larger fleets reinforce
our confidence."
Brian Foley, the head of
warehouse lending and relationship management for SVB's national
fintech practice, said that SVB is excited to continue to support
Coast's growth.
"Coast provides a strong financial product backed by powerful
software for fleet-operating businesses, which allows it to attract
very high-quality companies as customers," Foley said. "SVB is
excited to continue to provide the debt capital to help them serve
these businesses for the long term."
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 (breadpayments.com),
which was acquired by Alliance Data Systems for more than
$500 million in 2020. For more
information, visit coastpay.com.
About BoxGroup
BoxGroup is an early-stage venture
capital firm based in NYC and SF. BoxGroup backs entrepreneurs
building disruptive technology companies and with visions to create
the next generation of category defining businesses. BoxGroup's
portfolio across seven funds includes early investments in Plaid,
Ramp, Stripe, Flatiron Health, Airtable, Amplitude, Ro, Scopely,
and more. https://www.boxgroup.com/
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a world leader in
digital payments. The company's relentless focus on innovation is a
catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for
everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital,
Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to
reshape the future of commerce.
For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and
@VisaNews.
About Avid Ventures
Avid Ventures is a $165M early-stage venture capital firm based in
New York City backing exceptional
founders building transformative fintech and software companies
across North America, Europe, and Israel. Avid actively partners with founders
and their teams from the Seed stage through Series B as a
"Strategic Finance Advisor" to grow startups into proven growth
businesses with best-in-class metrics. Since its founding in 2020,
Avid has invested in 25+ companies including Rapyd, Alloy, Coast,
Clara, Oyster, Balance, Nova Credit,
and Thatch.
About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a
division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world's
most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial
and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology,
life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and
premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation
throughout the United States,
serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector
expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First
Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA ), is a top 20 U.S.
financial institution with more than $200
billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn
more at svb.com.
Media Contact:
Heather
Ripley
Ripley PR
865-977-1973
hripley@ripleypr.com
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SOURCE Coast