Startup Blinker Eyes ‘Big Bank’ Partnerships Following Ally Insurance Deal
Blinker plans to integrate “big banks” and national credit unions into its private-party vehicle marketplace mobile app platform, on the heels of a partnership with Ally Insurance last week, founder and Chief Executive Rod Buscher told Auto Finance News.
The startup currently funds its own loans through equity and a credit facility. Buscher declined to offer the names of the lenders, but said they are “some of the biggest players in the country.”
Separately, Blinker’s partnership with Ally Insurance will allow customers to add Ally’s vehicle protection coverage, including GAP and service contracts. The partnership does not extend into financing loans through Ally Financial Inc., but Doug Timmerman, president of Ally Insurance, told AFN the company’s position as an insurer and financier of loans puts Ally in a “unique position.”
Denver-based Blinker, which launched in 2016, is a free mobile app that allows consumers to buy, sell, finance, and refinance private-party cars using photos posted online and the company’s image-recognition technology to determine the quality of the asset.
The company operates in four states, following an expansion into California and Florida last month.
Adam Crossan, chief operating officer of Blinker, will participate in a panel discussion on “Navigating the Mobile Environment” at Auto Finance Innovation 2018. The event is slated for March 7-8, at the Parc 55 San Francisco. To register, click here.
