Bidbus has raised $15 million in Series A funding to expand its used-car marketplace beyond California and Texas. The Los Angeles-based startup lets car owners receive competing bids from dealerships without visiting a dealer lot.
The round was led by mobility-focused investor Ibex Investors. Mucker Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Data Point Capital, Walter Ventures and Yossi Levi, known as the Car Dealership Guy, also participated.
Bidbus says its marketplace helps sellers get offers that are usually $2,000 to $3,000 higher than quotes from online car-buying services such as Carvana. The company has helped people sell around 10,000 vehicles so far.
Dealers Compete for Private Cars
Bidbus was founded by chief executive Duke Yan after he tried helping his mother sell her car and found dealer offers too low. He put several buyers in a group chat, and the dealers began bidding against one another.
The company turned that idea into a consumer-to-dealer marketplace. Once a car is accepted on the platform, dealers have only a few hours to bid, with offers shown live inside the app.
Yan told TechCrunch that used-car affordability is partly a market efficiency problem. Consumers often lack real price discovery when selling or trading in vehicles, while dealers struggle to source high-quality used cars from private owners.
Dealerships already buy inventory through auctions, so Bidbus is not trying to introduce an unfamiliar model. Instead, it gives dealers access to privately owned vehicles that may be more desirable than standard auction supply.
Startup Plans Wider U.S. Expansion
Bidbus began by bootstrapping and later expanded beyond Los Angeles into more markets. It now works with dealer groups including Lithia Motors and Penske Automotive Group.
Ibex partner Jeff Peters said he passed on Bidbus at the seed stage because it was operating only in Los Angeles. He said the company became more compelling once it proved the model could scale to new markets and dealer networks.
Bidbus also wants the selling process to feel more engaging than a typical car sale. Yan said the company was inspired by stock-trading apps and social media products, with live bids displayed prominently so users can follow the auction in real time.
The company makes money from the difference between what dealers pay and what sellers receive. Yan said the goal is to make selling a car more transparent and competitive, with price set by market demand rather than one buyer’s offer.
The new funding will help Bidbus grow nationally and add more dealers to its platform. If the model scales, it could pressure both traditional dealerships and instant-offer services by giving sellers a faster way to discover what their cars are worth.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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