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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
March 8, 2024
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News on Macro Economic Data

Multiple reports came out this week supporting the view that the US economy continues to slow.  

 

The ISM index was down 3.6% continuing the greater than expected downturn in factory orders.

 

The jobs report showed an increase of 257K new jobs.   Digging into the details reveals that the majority of the jobs were government related – government, health care, and social assistance, with the next largest areas of employment being transportation and warehouse.  Given these segments, hiring seems focused on lower paying jobs.  Other reports show that layoffs hit their highest level for the month since the 2009 financial crisis, and Temp hiring was down for the 25th straight month.

 

The headline jobs number continues to be challenging to believe on an ongoing basis, as since Dec 2022 the headline number has been revised significantly downward and now diverges significantly from the household survey which has been showing a contraction of full time employment.   

 

Credit card delinquencies have risen above 3% for the first time since 2012.

 

Fed Chair Powell’s testimony to Congress suggested Fed cut(s) would be coming this year if the economy continues to weaken.

 

Crypto Public Company Activity

Bitcoin, digital assets, and the associated ecosystem have been a terrific investment category so far this year, far outpacing most stock portfolios (excluding AI).  What is driving this appreciation?  

 

Bitcoin’s rise seems to be tied to multiple catalysts:

 

  • ETFs  – When gold ETFs were introduced in 2004 making gold more accessible, the price of gold quadrupled in the following seven years.  Since Bitcoin ETFs were approved, much of Bitcoin’s rise has been fueled by ETF demand

 

  • Economic Uncertainty – US real inflation since January 2021 is roughly 19%  The US economy is better than most, and there is broad global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, increasing the value of safe harbors, including gold and Bitcoin

 

  • Risk on Environment:  The pace of asset appreciation encourages investors to move further out on the risk curve

 

  • Regulatory & Institutional Adoption:   The regulatory environment with Bitcoin is improving, leading to greater institutional adoption of digital assets.

 

However, despite Bitcoin’s rise itself this year, businesses tied to Bitcoin have, on average, faltered. This is most prominent among the miners:

 

 Bitcoin +55%
 Crypto Investment Platforms +26%  (Coinbase  +64%)
 Mining Platforms -18% (Core Scientific +17%)
 Crypto Influenced +25% (Microstrategy +108%)