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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.

Snapshots

Week of February 27 – March 5

Elliot Chun
March 11, 2023
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31 financings raised ~$164M

 

Certainly a historic week with two U.S. Banks – Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) – no longer independently operating.

 

Both institutions provided critical market infrastructure to the crypto industry and both scenarios played out in shockingly fast timelines, measured in hours.

 

Silvergate’s SEN network essentially allowed its customers 24/7/365 access to the U.S. Banking system, which was vital for crypto market participants operating in an industry that is always open.

 

SVB was the preferred banking partner for most private investment funds, especially VC funds, and while not exact, I’d estimate two thirds of U.S. crypto venture funds have their LP capital currently locked up at SVB.

 

Additionally, it’s been reported that Circle has $3.3B of its USDC reserves at SVB.

 

Less than 24 hours since SVB’s announcement, the combined loss of both institutions (little ability to transact over the weekend without SEN & questions over the safely of SVB deposits) is having an immediate effect on crypto markets as USDC – arguably the most important stablecoin – is under duress as its peg to the U.S. Dollar is challenged.

 

We have not hit “max pain” in crypto yet and that is now a real possibility if crypto companies cannot access the U.S. banking network, if SVB does not return depositor capital and if USDC does not defend its peg.

 

The seemingly standard-operating-procedure investment that most believe took down SVB was likely made by other U.S. banks, so I expect further distressed bank announcements.

 

Key weaknesses in today’s U.S. banking system will be highlighted and heavily discussed, and it takes market defining events, like these today, to push proven market solutions to the forefront of adoption which, when properly implemented, can provide real solutions to these ongoing structural weaknesses.

 

For example, this Wednesday, we participated in Jones Day’s FinAccelerate event that focused on DeFi products that are leading the innovation transition across all industries.

 

I appreciate being inspired by hearing each Founder’s journey, why they are dedicating their lives to affecting real change, and how they are achieving market adoption.

 

New solutions are live today in government reporting; international money transfer & trade; retirement & aged care funding; compliance & financial crime risk management; data & market intelligence; prediction & gambling markets; whiskey ownership; carbon credits; and universities, sports associations & nonprofits.

 

Learning from this historic week by innovating forward instead of regulating backward is essential as long as we keep in mind that innovation will not escape the vortex of regulation and law.

 

Silvergate and SVB were innovators to the U.S. Banking system and are reminders of how difficult the innovation journey is.