DealerPolicy to Expand in Williston With $110 Million Infusion

Source: Seven Days

DealerPolicy, a Williston software company that started just five years ago, has obtained $110 million in investment funding and plans to hire about 100 people as it expands.

In Vermont, deals of around $5 million still garner notice. That $110 million is more than all of the combined venture investing in 31 companies in the state last year, said Cairn Cross, whose Shelburne company, Fresh Tracks, was a minor player in the DealerPolicy deal.

The move could draw interest and build confidence in companies based in Chittenden County and in Vermont, said Jeff Couture of the Vermont Technology Alliance.

“Investment draws other investment, or at least draws the attention” of people who keep track of business deals nationally, said Couture. He noted that some employees drawn to Vermont by the fast-growing Dealer.com software company years ago started their own businesses in town. Dealer.com was eventually sold, the second time to Cox Automotive in 2015 in a $4 billion deal.

“I hope it’s the beginning of more to come” for other Vermont companies, Couture said.

DealerPolicy makes software that provides car dealers with insurance quote comparisons for customers. The company was started in 2016 by Fitzgerald, whose family owns an independent car dealership in Milton, and Jeff Mongeon, who was the vice president of a Winooski insurance company.

The last few years have been busy ones in the Vermont tech sector despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. In June, a video conference company cofounded by a Champlain College professor received a round of investment worth $6 million.

In July, the Burlington software company Faraday announced it had received $4 million to help it grow. And on August 31, South Burlington software provider OnLogic announced plans to spend $50 million on a new 125,000-square-foot headquarters.

“Chittenden County, and to some extent the state, for its size, are sort of punching above our weight in terms of the types of businesses being formed, and in terms of attention,” said Couture.

Read the full article by Anne Wallace Allen.