Cambridge-based automotive marketplace company CarGurus announced Thursday that it had acquired a San Francisco-based competitor: Autolist, a car shopping platform startup. No financial terms were disclosed.
CarGurus, a hometown heavyweight that went public in 2017, will operate Autolist as a standalone brand and website, but CarGurus will also pilot new product and partnership initiatives on the Autolist platform and mobile app.
"Like CarGurus, Autolist is a tech-centric online auto shopping provider," Jeremy Sacco, CarGurus' director of B2B content and communications, wrote in a blog post that went live on Jan. 8, more than a week before the official press release. "Their popular mobile app has millions of downloads, and we believe that engaged audience will provide yet another source of low-funnel shoppers for our dealers."
CarGurus CFO Jason Trevisan told the site Automotive News in October that the company planned to use mergers and acquisitions to build out its product suite and expand into dealer software and technology. Before its acquisition of Autolist, CarGurus had bought just one other company: the British used car motoring website PistonHeads, which it acquired just over a year ago to better establish its market in the U.K. Like Autolist, PistonHeads also operates as an independent brand under the CarGurus umbrella.
CarGurus is expanding at home, too. Last month, the company said in securities filings that it would expand its footprint in Greater Boston by nearly 50 percent with an agreement to lease 275,000 sq. ft. at the future 1001 Boylston St. tower.
In the blog post, Sacco said the Autolist acquisition should drive additional connections for premium CarGurus customers in the U.S. Dealers using the platform's Enhanced, Featured and Featured Priority packages will get Autolist leads as part of their existing subscription at no charge for a limited time.
Autolist founder Corey Lydstone will now report to Trevisan at CarGurus.
"The Autolist journey so far has been incredible, and with CarGurus’ massive scale and category leadership we believe we’ll be able to accelerate Autolist’s growth while continuing to deliver on our promise of building a better automotive buying experience for everyone," Lydstone said in the press release.
