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Co-founder Shane Ennis said that New York-based ACV is a ‘future version’ of what Drive aspires to be.
Irish automotive technology start-up Drive, the parent company of TradeBid and Nevo, has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed ACV Auctions.
Founded in 2019 by Dublin-based entrepreneurs Conor O’Boyle and Shane Ennis, Drive develops online marketplace solutions for the automotive industry.
TradeBid is a wholesale digital marketplace that allows dealers and manufacturers to buy and sell cars, while Nevo helps consumers make decisions on which electric vehicle to buy.
In an announcement today (19 August), O’Boyle said that over the past five years Drive has grown through “good times and hard times” to become a leader in the automotive technology space in Ireland.
“Right from the start of our conversations with ACV, the exciting thing was that it was like looking at a future version of ourselves. We share the same passion for technology and a people-first culture,” he said.
“It’s rare to sit next to someone every day for over five years and still bounce ideas off each other and enjoy it every day,” he added, speaking about co-founder Ennis. “We share very different skill sets and this allowed us both to focus on our relevant parts of the business from day one which was a key driver in the success.”
Drive is based in Dublin and employs around 40 people. The former Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up raised €1m from investors in 2022. Terms of the ACV Auctions deal were not disclosed.
“We couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter. It’s rare to find great people who see the world so similar to how you do and are very much a future version of what your company aspires to be – but we found that in Buffalo, New York,” said Ennis, speaking of ACV.
“It’s been a fun and challenging journey to this point since Conor O’Boyle and I began working on this together in 2019. Global pandemics, severe market contractions and expansions, various product launches, successes, failures and pivots were not in the original business plan – and I’m probably most proud of our resilience, trust and friendship.”
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