LouieAuto — Investor Fact Sheet

Product

• Production modules71 across CRM, BDC, F&I, inventory, compliance, marketing, fraud
• ArchitectureMonolithic single-tenant; DMS-agnostic overlay
• Deployment time30 days
• DMS compatibilityCDK, Reynolds, Tekion, Dealertrack, ProMax, VinSolutions, DriveCentric
• AI provider routerAnthropic, OpenAI, Azure, GCP, local Ollama (5 backends)
• Production uptime (90 days)99.9%
• Live market-intelligence refreshNightly from FRED, EIA, Manheim, UMich public sources
• Compliance postureFTC Safeguards Rule compliant · OFAC screening on every deal · AES-256-GCM encrypted at rest · TOTP MFA · full audit log · SOC 2 Type II in progress — controls already implemented; certification documentation (Type II report) targeted Q3 2026
• Live demo accessNo-login 24-hour session via /api/demo/magic-link

Market

• Franchise dealers (primary TAM)16,990 US rooftops — NADA 2025 Full-Year Report, primary source confirmed
• Independent/used dealers (secondary TAM)~41,000 — NIADA industry estimate, widely cited in trade press
• Total addressable market~58,000 rooftops (franchise + independent combined)
• CDK Global install base~15,000 dealers — sourced from 2024 cyberattack press coverage and CDK marketing
• VinSolutions (Cox Automotive)~9,500 dealers — derived from Cox $1B+ reported revenue + industry press
• Reynolds & Reynolds~7,500 dealers — industry analyst estimate, privately held
• DealerSocket (Solera)~9,000 dealers — pre-acquisition press materials
• Tekion3,000+ dealers, 53% YoY growth — confirmed live from tekion.com homepage
• Platform bolt-on TAM (49K dealers, 10% attach, $300/mo)$17.6M ARR — zero new customer acquisition required by acquirer
• DMS market size$9.24B, 6% CAGR (Grand View Research)
• M&A comp — Quorum → Valsoft$43M USD (Dec 2025) · ~2.1x revenue · Canadian multi-rooftop dealer management platform — closest publicly reported comparable for a standalone dealer ops SaaS sale
• M&A comp — SpinCar → CDK GlobalAcquired 2024 · vehicle AI/imaging platform for dealer lots · strategic tuck-in by a tier-1 DMS player — establishes precedent for vertical AI acqui-hire by CDK, Reynolds, Tekion-class buyers
• M&A comp — DealerSocket → Solera HoldingsPart of Solera's $5B+ dealer technology consolidation (2016–2022) · 9,000+ dealer CRM · demonstrates strategic platform aggregation thesis that LouieAuto's architecture directly serves as an overlay
• M&A comp — VinSolutions → Dealertrack / Cox Automotive$150M acquisition (2011) · ~2,500-dealer CRM overlay purchased by a DMS platform (Dealertrack) · Dealertrack itself later acquired by Cox Automotive for $4B (2015) · establishes the playbook: DMS platforms pay significant multiples for CRM/workflow overlays with small-but-growing install bases, then scale via existing sales channel
• M&A comp set — coverage noteAutomotive dealer tech M&A is thinly reported; most transaction prices are undisclosed. The comps above are the publicly documented comparables. Additional strategic-intent precedents and undisclosed revenue multiples available in the data room under NDA.
• Vertical AI SaaS market multiple (2025–2026)15–25× ARR for platforms with documented fraud-detection ROI and operator-encoded knowledge — sourced from Bain Capital Ventures, a16z, and Bessemer "State of Cloud" reports (2025). LouieAuto's 42-lender matrix + Bankruptcy Data Center pipeline qualify under this rubric.

Unit Economics

• Pricing — Post-acquisition target ILLUSTRATIVE$2,500/mo per rooftop (1–2 rooftops)
• Pricing — Volume post-acquisition ILLUSTRATIVE$2,000/mo per rooftop (3–9 rooftops)
• ARR per rooftop$24,000–$30,000
• Gross margin85% (AI inference is the only variable cost)
• Current monthly infrastructure cost~$0 marginal — demo runs on shared VPS already under contract; Resend free tier covers email volume; Anthropic API at demo traffic is negligible. No dedicated server costs transfer with the asset. Enterprise deployment cost model at 500 / 1K / 5K rooftops (cloud migration, multi-tenant refactor, inference at scale) documented in data room.
• CAC via strategic channelNear-zero attach
• Implied LTV/CAC at acquirer scale12–20x

Dealer P&L Uplift (per rooftop, annualized)

• PVR uplift (lender routing + F&I AI)$180,000/yr
• Aged inventory cost avoidance$32,400/yr
• Deals saved from fall-through$60,000/yr
• Incremental gross from 60-sec lead response$58,800/yr
• Fraud events prevented$25,000/yr
• Total range$150,000–$400,000/yr per rooftop
• Value-to-price ratio6x–16x (industry ceiling: 5–10x)

Strategic Tuck-In Scenario (illustrative)

• Acquirer book (mid-case)12,000 rooftops
• Year-3 attach rate8% — Bessemer Venture Partners "State of Cloud" 2024 documents 6–10% as the median Y3 attach range for vertical SaaS workflow overlays distributed through an incumbent platform's existing sales channel. 8% is the midpoint. Sensitivity band (5–12%) modeled in data room.
• Incremental ARR generated$23M
• Gross profit at 85% margin$19.6M
• Applied multiple6x ARR (conservative vertical AI tuck-in)
• Strategic value unlocked$138M
• Fair consideration (15–30% of NPV)$20M–$41M

Tiered Acquirer Scenario Matrix ILLUSTRATIVE

The 12,000-rooftop base case assumes an enterprise DMS acquirer. Smaller strategic buyers — regional dealer groups, mid-market CRM platforms, F&I product providers — model differently. All scenarios use 8% Year-3 attach (BVP State of Cloud 2024 midpoint for single-motion vertical SaaS bolt-ons), $24K ARR/rooftop, 6x multiple. Fair consideration = 15–30% of strategic NPV. The standalone IP floor ($300K–$750K) applies regardless of acquirer scale. Full sensitivity bands (5–12% attach; 4x–10x multiple) modeled in the data room.

^* For sub-2,000-rooftop buyers, the attach-math consideration falls below the standalone IP floor value. Standalone IP floor is estimated at $300K–$750K (71-module codebase + operator-encoded lender playbooks + stip logic + desk-voice scripts, valued as IP asset excluding goodwill). This floor exists regardless of acquirer scale and does not depend on rooftop math. Acquirer-specific floor modeling available under NDA.

Acquirer ROI Model — Per Existing Customer

• Lever 1 — Churn reduction$4,680/customer/yr
• Lever 2 — Rate tolerance$2,400/customer/yr
• Lever 3 — Module expansion$2,400/customer/yr
• Lever 4 — LouieAuto margin share$1,794/customer/yr
• Lever 5 — Ad spend optimization (operator-modeled)$3,300/customer/yr — modeled as 2% efficiency gain on average franchise dealer digital ad spend (~$165K/yr); input basis consistent with Cox Automotive / Cars.com published dealer marketing benchmarks. Acquirer should substitute their book's actual ad-spend data; directional figure only.
• Total acquirer uplift$14,574/customer/yr
• On 10K-customer book at 20% attach$29.1M/yr uplift · $175M NPV @ 6x
• Fair acquisition price$26M–$52M per 10K customers

Acquirer Monetization Models

• Model 1 — Subscription$23.0M ARR / $138M @ 6x
• Model 2 — Repriced-to-value (30%)$79–$103M ARR
• Model 3 — Performance share (20%)$53M ARR
• Model 4 — Churn defense on existing DMS book$13.8M ARR protected
• Stacked (Model 1 + 4)$36.9M ARR / $221M unlocked @ 6x

Strategic Value Drivers

• Own-AI-Provider routerAcquirer runs on existing AI contracts (Azure, GCP) — zero marginal inference cost
• Full-stack coverage71 modules span CRM + BDC + F&I + inventory + compliance
• Operator-built knowledge baseLender playbooks & desk decision trees non-replicable from training data
• Live market intelligence layerSelf-populating from public macro sources — refreshes nightly
• Closed-loop AI (outcome capture live)Every funded deal, declined application, and trade auction result is logged against the recommendation that generated it — outcome dataset compounds with each month in operation; automated routing re-weighting is the current build phase. No competitor in the DMS/CRM stack closes this loop.
• Defensive valueExtends incumbent DMS (no rip-replace) — reduces DMS churn to new entrants

Operator Deployment (verifiable)

• Rooftops in live use5 (operator's dealer group)
• Consecutive quarters in production4+
• Moat knowledge base12 tables · 3,059 rows (operator-encoded)
• Live moat indicators endpointGET /api/moat/public · 20 entries · nightly FRED refresh
WHAT THE MOAT ACTUALLY IS

The /api/moat/public endpoint pulls from commodity sources — FRED, EIA, UMich, OEM program feeds. The moat is not the data. The moat is the operator-encoded system prompts, lender playbooks, stip logic, and desk-voice scripts that sit between those inputs and the dealer.

A competitor can call the same APIs. They cannot replicate 30 years of floor experience compressed into prompt engineering without hiring an operator and spending 18–24 months encoding the institutional knowledge. That encoding is what ships with the asset.

• Operator domain experience30+ years writing deals
• FramingPost-deployment, pre-commercial — apply vertical-AI premium, not pre-revenue discount

5-Year Pro Forma (illustrative, tuck-in deployment)

• Y1 ARR (ramp, 150 rooftops)$3.6M
• Y2 ARR (attach at 4%)$11.5M
• Y3 ARR (attach at 8%)$23.0M
• Y4 ARR (attach at 11%)$31.7M
• Y5 ARR (attach at 13%)$37.4M
• Gross margin (blended)85%
• Y3 Rule of 40 target115–160
• Y3 NRR target120–140%
• Scenario caveatAssumes acquirer's 12,000-rooftop book, standard vertical-AI attach curve

Downside Sensitivity (stress-tested)

• Stretch (12% attach · $30K ARR · 8x)$345M unlocked
• Base (8% · $24K · 6x)$138M unlocked
• Conservative (5% · $20K · 5x)$60M unlocked
• Bear (3% · $18K · 4x)$26M unlocked
• Broken (1% · $15K · 3x)$5.4M unlocked — strategic NPV at this scenario still exceeds the $300K–$750K standalone IP floor by 7–18x; "above floor" refers to IP liquidation floor, not strategic floor

Tech Stack CURRENT

• RuntimeNode.js 24 · Express · pm2 (process supervisor)
• DatabaseSQLite (better-sqlite3) + Sequelize ORM · PostgreSQL shadow mode Shadow mode = all writes dual-applied to a live Postgres replica in real time. Zero data migration at acquisition — swap the connection string. Enterprise infra cost model at 500 / 1K / 5K rooftop tiers documented in data room.
• AI inferenceAnthropic Claude (primary) · multi-provider router: OpenAI, Azure, GCP, Ollama
• Voice / SMSTwilio (inbound BDC routing, outbound campaigns) · RingCentral SDK v5 (bidirectional SMS, CRMCommunications log)
• Email deliveryResend transactional · Gmail IMAP ingest (DMS deal parsing)
• Document parsingpdf-parse · xlsx · csv-parser · AES-256-GCM encrypted upload store
• Embeddings / RAGXenova/all-MiniLM-L6-v2 (local, no API cost) · 13-entry dealer knowledge base
• HostingDigitalOcean VPS · nginx reverse proxy · restic encrypted backups (nightly)
• AuthJWT (HMAC-SHA256) · bcrypt passwords · TOTP MFA · rate limiting · audit log
• AnalyticsPlausible (privacy-first, no cookies, GDPR compliant)
• Market data feedsFRED · EIA · BLS · Census · NHTSA · NOAA · BEA · USAspending · CFPB · OpenChargeMap
• ComplianceOFAC screening on every deal · FTC Safeguards Rule control matrix · Bankruptcy Data Center pipeline
• DMS ingestCDK / Reynolds header-sniff auto-detect · CSV / XLS bulk upload · FTP pull (per-store creds)
• PDF generationpuppeteer-core (15-report suite, auth-gated)

Nightly Report Delivery — Complete Product Requirements

Every report below is generated from live data, rendered as PDF + inline HTML, and delivered to configured recipient list by 6:00 AM local dealer time. Data sources are the live SQLite DB, not snapshots. Each report is independently toggle-able per-rooftop in the admin panel.

• Daily Sales DOCUnits sold · front/back gross · PVR · F&I PRU · running MTD vs. pace
• BDC PerformanceLeads in · contacted · appt set · shows · sold · avg response time · unanswered >24 hrs
• F&I Penetration SummaryProduct-level penetration % · per-vehicle retail · backend gross · reserve vs. fee split
• Aged Inventory AlertAll units 45+ days · daily carrying cost · AI-recommended price action per unit
• Lender ScorecardApproval rate · funding speed (days) · approval-to-funded gap · conditions outstanding by lender
• Stip / Funding Hold ReportOpen stips by deal · customer · lender · days outstanding · need-by deadline
• Equity Mining OpportunitiesPositive-equity customers · equity amount · months-in · recommended upgrade vehicle
• Lease Maturity AlertLeases ending 30 / 60 / 90 days · residual vs. market · buyout candidate flag · action owner
• Bankruptcy Data Center PipelineNew Chapter 7 discharges in market · discharge date · estimated re-entry window
• Wholesale Opportunity ReportAged units w/ auction vs. retail spread analysis · MMR overlay · recommended action
• Market Price PositionYour lot vs. 100-mile comp set · units priced above / at / below market · gap-to-win by unit
• Morning Briefing (GM)Day's appointments · expiring lender approvals · overdue loaners · urgent BDC leads · weather
• CSI Risk AlertCustomers with recent declined service · unresolved complaints · loaner overdue · RO still open
• Title Overdue ReportDeals funded but title not received · days outstanding · state deadline flag
• Weekly Pipeline Summary (Mondays)Full-week units · gross · lender breakdown · aged-inventory delta · MTD pace · prior-week comparison

Reports 1–14 currently built and PDF-rendered. Scheduled email delivery (Resend) and per-recipient configuration UI are the final integration layer. All underlying data endpoints are live. Implementation estimate: 2 engineering days.

Transaction Readiness

• Data roomLive under NDA
• IP chainClean — single primary contributor, IP assignment documented
• Diligence documentationComplete (tech stack, security, unit economics, IP checklist, postgres roadmap)
• Willing operatorFlexible on earnout structure; 24-mo retention aligned to integration milestones