We first heard word of Ekho at AIMExpo. Now the rest of the powersports world is hearing about how it enables OEMs, dealerships and marketplaces to offer a seamless online checkout experience—completing all aspects of the vehicle transaction digitally, from financing and insurance to tax remittance and registration. And it is fully compliant with franchise agreements and state DMV requirements according to co-funder Rowan Mockler.https://youtu.be/HAvo1AIGUGk
“In just a year, our platform has helped OEMs and their dealers generate tens of millions in online revenue, while delivering shopper CSAT scores well above traditional buying—proving that the demand is real and the opportunity is massive,” claims Mockler. Along the way Ekho resonated with investors and $17.3 million in Seed and Series A funding was raised. The $15 million Series A was led by Activant Capital, with participation from JPMorgan Payments, Winnebago Industries, Y Combinator, and other strategic investors including former Tesla executives.
“We’re solving one of the most complex problems in commerce—and building a world-class team to do it—in a way that ensures OEMs, dealers, and shoppers all win,” echoes co-founder Chris Howard. The dynamic duo met while studying computer science at Stanford. They plan to use the funding to scale their team in response to surging demand.
After two years in stealth building the licensing, compliance and technical infrastructure to support online sales at scale, Ekho launched in beta in 2024 with its earliest customers. Since then, the company has grown rapidly and now powers the online sales channel for more than 20 OEMs and their dealer networks—including 4 publicly traded manufacturers.
“Everyone knows the vehicle-buying experience needs to change —Tesla has set the bar and there is no going back on consumer expectations. But this is a deeply complex transaction to digitize,” notes Andrew Steele, Partner at Activant. “What Ekho has built is staggering in both scope and execution, and it shows what a killer team leveraging AI can really do. Brands and dealers are leaning in, consumers are responding, and it’s clear they’re setting a new standard.”
Bridging The Vehicle E-Commerce Gap
While consumer expectations have shifted dramatically — 52% of U.S. buyers say they want to purchase their next vehicle online — most brands and dealers still rely on legacy systems built for in-store transactions, explains Mockler. “Regulatory barriers, complex back-office processes, incentive alignment across OEMs and dealers, and reliance on in-person upselling for backend revenue have made true e-commerce nearly impossible in vehicle sales.”
Ekho solves this with a 50-state transaction engine, ops workflow automations, dealer-connected product configurations, and a comprehensive compliance framework, built from the ground up. The platform handles:
• Secured financing with full credit spectrum coverage
• State-specific titling and registration workflows
• Identity and insurance verification
• Dynamic tax calculation, collection, and remittance
• Wet and digital signature orchestration across 50 states
• DMS and lender integrations
• Intelligent dealer attribution and backend product upsells
As Mockler explains it, Ekho’s platform includes three core configurations—Omni (for OEMs with dealer networks), Access (for brands without U.S. distribution), and Dealer (for individual dealerships looking to digitize their sales flow). In each case, Ekho abstracts away regulatory complexity and orchestrates the full transaction while preserving dealer participation.
Around $1.5T worth of vehicle sales happen each year in the US across tens of thousands of dealerships. Ekho’s early traction spans motorcycles, UTVs, golf carts and more. Demand from new OEM entrants, combined with growing pressure on legacy brands and dealerships to modernize, is accelerating adoption.
Ekho’s dealer platform can be found by clicking here:
