Halfords bags investment in Avayler software business as Bridgestone takes a 5% stake
Halfords Group, a UK-based provider of motoring and cycling products and services, reports that Bridgestone has acquired a 5% stake in its automotive Software as a service (SaaS) venture, Avayler, valuing the business that was launched in July 2021, at over $60 million.
The agreement will allow also Bridgestone to leverage Avayler’s products in retail stores and mobile applications.
The Avayler solution was developed in-house by Halfords to manage automotive services across its garage network and increasing number of mobile vans.
As well as streamlining customer bookings – online, over the phone, and in-store – and job execution inside the garage, its mobile capability uses algorithms to instantly calculate the available customer time slots according to the nearest van location and parts availability.
The platform uses dynamic pricing to value those slots accurately.
Automotive service providers can calculate the cheapest and quickest routes to a customer; maximise colleague productivity on the job; give details of traffic on the road; and provide a colleague with detailed checklists to ensure a safe and consistent service is provided.
Customers can also track the location and ETA of their service delivery.
Avayler’s first customer was American Tire Distributors. Since then, it has won a number of contracts with operators around the globe, including Tirebuyer in the US and Mobivia in Central Europe.
“The Bridgestone investment is an important endorsement by one of the world’s largest automotive businesses,” says Graham Stapleton, Chief Executive Officer at Halfords.
“With Avayler a little over two years old, Bridgestone’s investment at this stage is testimony to their confidence in the business and the strength of Avayler’s ground-breaking solution to allow automotive companies to offer completely integrated on and off-site support to customers.”
“As well as becoming a shareholder in Avayler, Bridgestone will also deploy Avayler solutions to support its own mobility solutions and applications for drivers, fleet managers, and vehicle owners.”
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