Impel Funding, Investors & Competitors
Impel has raised $130M across 3 funding rounds, most recently a $104M undisclosed-stage round in January 2023.
Last Impel funding round
$104M
Undisclosed stage · Jan 2023
Cumulative funding Impel raised
$130M
across 3 funding rounds
Key investors in Impel
Wavecrest Growth Partners
Silversmith Capital Partners
fm Capital
Topmark Partners
StartFast Ventures
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Martin BabinecRationalwave Capital Partners
Venture Capital Fund of New England
About Impel
Impel is a provider of AI-driven digital engagement platforms for automotive dealers, wholesalers, original equipment manufacturers, and online marketplaces. Its omnichannel solutions integrate shopper behavioral data with artificial intelligence to personalize interactions throughout the customer journey, encompassing merchandising, communication, marketing, and imaging tools. These applications connect seamlessly with leading website providers, customer relationship management systems, and dealer management systems. New York-headquartered Impel supports operations in more than 40 countries and maintains partnerships with major automotive platforms.
Founded
2011
HQ
Syracuse, NYWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Impel Funding History
Impel has raised a total of $130M across 3 funding rounds, plus 1 secondary share sale.
Impel's first fundraising round was a $4M seed round in February 2014. The most recent completed round was a $104M undisclosed-stage round in January 2023.
Impel funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2025 | Secondary | fm Capital (lead) | - | Impel is the global leader in Automotive AI solutions. On December 18, 2025, Impel completed a secondary share sale of shares held by early investors and former employees to FM Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early-to-mid stage technology companies transforming the automotive and transportation industries. FM Capital secured an equity stake and became a strategic partner to Impel, leveraging its network including 56 top U.S. dealer groups representing over 1,100 stores. FM Capital, formerly Fraser McCombs Capital and founded in 2012 by Chase Fraser and B.J. “Red” McCombs, invests exclusively in the automotive space with a focus on disruptive technologies. The firm is managed by Fraser and Mark Norman, former DaimlerChrysler Canada CEO and Chairman, and its limited partners include major automotive technology vendors and privately-owned dealer groups. |
| Jan 2023 | Undisclosed stage | Silversmith Capital Partners (lead); Wavecrest Growth Partners | $104M | Impel is a digital engagement software platform for automotive manufacturers, marketplaces, and dealers, using AI-powered solutions to deliver omnichannel customer experiences and improve operational efficiency. Its merchandising and conversational AI applications had powered over 5 billion shopper interactions and influenced nearly $2 billion in vehicle sales and service transactions as of January 2023. The company serves more than 4,000 customers and integrates with over 100 technology and marketplace partners, having scaled to 200 employees globally. On January 17, 2023, Impel announced a $104 million growth investment led by Silversmith Capital Partners, with participation from existing investor Wavecrest Growth Partners. Over the prior two years, Impel reported revenue growth exceeding 100%, completed two acquisitions, and achieved profitable scaling. The investment aims to accelerate product expansion, M&A activity, and innovation to meet auto industry demand for AI automation and digital solutions amid industry transformation. Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm managing $3.3 billion, highlighted Impel's strong team and customer-loved AI products solving dealer engagement challenges. Post-round, Impel pursued further growth, including the acquisition of Outsell for over $100 million later in 2023, marking its third strategic purchase in three years, and launched 'Chat AI,' a generative AI-powered dealer webchat product. Total funding raised exceeded $130 million across multiple rounds. |
| Oct 2018 | Undisclosed stage | Wavecrest Growth Partners (lead); David Metter; Harpreet Grewal | $22M | Impel is a provider of digital engagement software for automotive manufacturers, marketplaces, and dealers, originally known as SpinCar before rebranding in 2022. Impel has since raised over $130 million in total funding, including a $104 million growth investment in January 2023 led by Silversmith Capital Partners with participation from Wavecrest. The 2023 investment followed significant growth, with Impel reporting revenue growth of more than 100% over the prior two years, serving over 4,000 customers, powering more than 100 technology partners, and scaling to 200 employees globally while completing two acquisitions. The platform has powered billions of shopper interactions and influenced billions in vehicle sales and service transactions. Post-2023 developments include Impel's acquisition of Outsell in a $100+ million deal in early 2024, marking its third acquisition in three years after Pulsar AI in 2021 and CarLabs.ai in 2022. This enhances Impel's AI-powered merchandising, conversational AI, and customer data capabilities, integrating with website, CRM, and DMS platforms. |
| Feb 2014 | Seed | StartFast Ventures (lead); Rationalwave Capital Partners; Venture Capital Fund of New England; Topmark Partners; Martin Babinec | $4M | Impel is an AI-powered customer lifecycle management platform for the automotive retail industry, using AI and augmented reality to create immersive digital showrooms and personalized customer communications for vehicle dealers. The company operates in B2B enterprise software and automotive products, with 201-500 employees and a scale stage focus on rapidly increasing operations. Impel raised $4 million in a Series S round led by StartFast Ventures, with participation from Martin Babinec, Rationalwave Capital Partners, Topmark Partners, and Venture Capital Fund of New England. Investors also include Wavecrest Growth Partners in later rounds. This early-stage funding aligns with the approximate November 2014 date. Subsequent rounds include a Pre-seed of $18,000, Series A of $22 million, and Venture round of $104 million, bringing total funding to $130 million as of January 2023. |
Who has invested in Impel?
10 investors have backed Impel across its funding rounds, including Wavecrest Growth Partners, Silversmith Capital Partners, fm Capital, Topmark Partners, StartFast Ventures and Martin Babinec.
Lead investors include fm Capital, Silversmith Capital Partners, Wavecrest Growth Partners and StartFast Ventures.
Impel Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston, MA | 2 | Lead | Oct 2018 | |
| Syracuse, NY | 1 | Lead | Feb 2014 | |
| Boulder, CO | 1 | Lead | Dec 2025 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Feb 2014 | |
| David Metter | -- | 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 |
| Boston, MA | 1 | Participant | Feb 2014 | |
| Tampa, FL | 1 | Participant | Feb 2014 | |
| Harpreet Grewal | -- | 1 | Participant | Oct 2018 |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 10 Impel investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Impel
Impel has acquired 3 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Impel was on July 9th 2024. Impel acquired Outsell for $100M.
Latest Acquisitions by Impel
| Description | Outsell is a SaaS provider of digital retailing platforms for automotive dealerships and OEMs. Kansas City-headquartered and founded in 2009, its Engagement Manager tool handles 20 million monthly shopper sessions for brands including Ford and General Motors. The analytics suite tracks from ad click to showroom visit, integrating with Dealertrack for finance pre-approvals. | CarLabs is a Tel Aviv-based automotive AI startup founded in 2018 that created Carla, a conversational agent for car buying, selling, financing, insurance, and maintenance. Carla processes 100,000 queries monthly via API, translating user intents into dealer data from 10,000 sources. The platform partners with banks like Ally Financial and insurers such as Progressive. CarLabs serves US consumers with personalized quotes. | Pulsar AI is a conversational artificial intelligence platform tailored for automotive dealerships in the United States. The San Diego-based system automates appointment scheduling, service reminders, and lead qualification through voice and text interactions on dealer websites and messaging channels. It integrates with CRM platforms like Dealertrack and Reynolds to update customer records in real time. Launched to handle inbound inquiries without staff intervention, Pulsar AI processes calls in multiple languages for sales and service departments. |
| HQ Country | | | |
| HQ City | Minneapolis, MN | Los Angeles, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Deal Date | 9 Jul 2024 | 1 Nov 2022 | 11 May 2021 |
| Valuation | $100M | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
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Impel Competitors
Impel competitors include listed companies like Constellation Software, Dassault Systemes and Topicus, and private ones like Applied Intuition, Zongmu and Hong Jing Drive.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Canada | Publicly listed | $12B | $2.5B | $43B | 3.5x | |
 France | Publicly listed | $7.2B | $2.2B | $32B | 4.0x | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | $415M | - | $15B | 36.1x | |
 Shanghai | Private | - | - | $11B | - | |
 Netherlands | Publicly listed | $1.8B | $393M | $5.4B | 3.0x | |
| Hangzhou | Private | - | - | $4.3B | - |
Impel Public Comps
Impel is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Autodesk, Constellation Software, Dassault Systemes, Mobility Global, Topicus, ThunderSoft, WeRide, Pateo Connect Tech, KPIT Technologies and Zwsoft.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $7.2B | $1.8B | 6.3x | 5.7x | 25.6x | 14.1x | |||
| $12B | $2.5B | 4.0x | 3.5x | 18.5x | 12.9x | |||
| $7.2B | $2.2B | 4.0x | 4.0x | 13.2x | 11.2x | |||
| $1.8B | $637M | 4.7x | - | 12.9x | - | |||
| $1.8B | $393M | 3.4x | 3.0x | 15.3x | 10.6x | |||
| $1.2B | $151M | 3.0x | 2.6x | 23.1x | 20.2x | |||
| $102M | ($257M) | 11.4x | 8.3x | (4.5x) | (5.0x) | |||
| $523M | ($143M) | 3.8x | 2.6x | (14.0x) | (27.9x) | |||
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Common questions about Impel
| When was Impel founded? | Impel was founded in 2011. |
| Where is Impel headquartered? | Impel is headquartered in Syracuse, NY, United States. |
| Is Impel publicly listed? | No, Impel is a private, VC-backed company. |
| How much funding has Impel raised? | Impel has raised $130M across 3 funding rounds. |
| What was Impel's last funding round? | Impel's last funding round was a $104M undisclosed-stage round in January 2023, led by Silversmith Capital Partners. |
| Who are Impel's investors? | Impel's investors include Wavecrest Growth Partners, StartFast Ventures, fm Capital, Rationalwave Capital Partners, David Metter, Venture Capital Fund of New England, Topmark Partners, Harpreet Grewal, Silversmith Capital Partners and Martin Babinec. |
| Which companies are comparable to Impel? | Companies comparable to Impel include Constellation Software, Dassault Systemes, Applied Intuition, Zongmu, Topicus and Hong Jing Drive. |
| How many companies has Impel acquired? | Impel has acquired 3 companies, including Outsell, CarLabs and Pulsar AI. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Impel? | The $100M acquisition of Outsell in July 2024 is the largest acquisition Impel has made to date. |
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