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Champ Titles Raised $18M from Point72 Ventures
Champ Titles Raised $18M from Point72 Ventures

Architect Partners was the exclusive Financial Advisor to Champ Titles.

Transaction Overview

On March 27, 2024, Cleveland-based digital title and registration platform Champ Titles announced an $18 million Series C equity round led by Point72 Ventures with participation by existing investors.

Company Description

Champ Titles provides a digital title and registration suite to streamline the vehicle titling process. Their platform enables the creation of legal, digital titles for easy transfer and verification, serving insurance carriers, lenders, state governments, auto dealers, and owners. Stakeholders, including state motor vehicle departments, lenders, and vehicle owners, benefit from a unified and transparent system, where all information is readily accessible and transaction times are markedly reduced. The governance of the digital platform is established through clear guidelines, ensuring all parties adhere to the updated processes and regulations.

Champ Titles’ success is measured by the elimination of more than 5 million pieces of paper annually on average per state; a reduction in processing time from 40-60 days to a matter of hours; increased productivity of DMV title clerks processing more than five times as many titles per day; and the improved experience for consumers in each state that has adopted Champ Titles’ solutions. Over the last twelve months, the company has successfully onboarded new states including New Jersey, Kentucky, and Illinois, and expanded its relationship with West Virginia by creating the first National Digital Titling Clearinghouse (NDTC). Through these efforts, the company has grown rapidly with revenue increasing by more than 300% year over year. 

Founded in 2018 by CEO, Shane Bigelow, the company now has 63 employees and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Funding

In this Series C funding round, Champ Titles raised $18M from Point72 Ventures and existing investors including W.R. Berkley Corporation, Eos Venture Partners, Guidewire Software, and Rev1 Ventures, bringing the total amount raised since inception to $45M. 

In the prior Series B round, Champ Titles raised $13M from Guidewire Software, Eos Venture Partners, and Ally Ventures.

Before that, Champ Titles raised $13.5M in 2021 in a Series A. Emergents, now Architect Partners, served as the exclusive Financial Advisor for that financing. 

Competition

Champ Titles’ biggest competitors are existing state DMVs deciding to be a software company and developing solutions on their own or via large systems developers.  However, they also compete with other digital title networks such as Cario and Oxhead Alpha/Tezos. In addition, technology-enabled DMV solutions such as Fast Enterprises are seen as competitive but don’t offer the same efficacy.

 

Architect Partners’ Perspective

Champ Titles’ SaaS-based solutions present a compelling example of blockchain-enabled infrastructure solving real-world problems.  By focusing on the needs and pain points of legacy auto title, registration, and lien processing, Champ has leveraged the power of blockchain to transform critical government services.  The result is exponentially accelerated processing time for DMV constituents, with improved accuracy and reduced cost.  Yet Champ’s solutions capture many key benefits of on-chain data processing – which include trust, transparency, data integrity, security, and efficiency – without users even being aware of their blockchain foundations.  

While much attention is focused on recent resilience in crypto asset prices, we believe 2024 will see significant growth in non-speculative enterprise applications for distributed ledger technology.  Champ’s successful raise demonstrates investor interest in practical and scalable solutions to real-world problems.

Crypto Public Companies Snapshot

Crypto Public Companies Snapshot

Glenn Gottlieb
February 23, 2024
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News on Macro Economic Data

 

Nvidia provided excitement with its earnings announcement.  With revenue up 265% YoY,  the company added an astounding $277B to its market cap in one day.  As it relates to financial markets, the processing power Nvidia’s GPUs provide is closely tied to the federal government’s push for immediate settlement, a topic the crypto community has been touting for some time.  This push is estimated to positively impact GDP by 2-3%.  The two major programs driving this change are:

 

FedNow – Launched by the Federal Reserve on July 20, 2023, FedNow aims to modernize the U.S. payment system by providing a safe and efficient instant payment infrastructure.  As of October 2023, 107 financial institutions were offering FedNow services to their customers.  FedNow program’s introduction is likely to enhance liquidity, streamline payments, and contribute to a more dynamic macroeconomic environment in the United States.

 

Shortening Equities Settlement Time:   On May 28th, the U.S. securities markets is set to adopt next-day settlement for stock trades.  This move from T+2 to T+1 will reduce systemic risk and increase efficiency in the equities market.  SEC Chair Gary Gensler has emphasized the importance of this move during recent discussions with the European financial community.   The objective is to move to immediate settlement within the next few years. 

 

Crypto Public Company Activity

Nvidia’s impact is unlike any in recent memory, and their earnings announcement prompts us to reflect on the company’s influence and the AI-driven growth it fuels as it relates to the  blockchain and crypto markets. Rather than delving into specific details of AI-blockchain integration, below are some broad topics of opportunities that Nvidia enables through its advancement of more powerful AI: 

 

Virtual Worlds:  Exceptional rendering, combined with AI will enable more immersible and intelligent 3D Metaverse experiences.

 

Data trustworthiness: AI opens up exciting possibilities for content creation. Blockchain provides a secure foundation for establishing authenticity, ownership, and data source trustworthiness.

 

Fraud prevention and security:  AI aids in detecting suspicious transactions and patterns bolstering overall system security.

 

Smart Contract and DeFi: AI can enhance smart contract processing, ensuring compliance with agreement terms and complex regulatory frameworks.

 

DEPIN:  Companies like Fetch.AI and Ocean Protocol integrate “AI tokens” into ecosystems, enabling access to AI/ML resources, data monetization, and governance.

 

Nvidia’s technological breakthroughs reverberate across nearly every technological ecosystem, making it a company worth closely monitoring, including within the Crypto community.