Bridgestone has acquired a five per cent stake in its automotive Software as a service (SaaS) business, Avayler, valuing the company launched in July 2021 at more than $60 million.
The Commercial Agreement will allow Bridgestone to use Avayler’s products in retail stores and mobile applications.
Halfords developed the Avayler SaaS solution in-house to manage automotive services across its expansive garage network and an increasing number of mobile vans.
The company said that the Avayler platform has no direct equivalent today. As well as streamlining customer bookings – online, over the phone, and in-store – and job execution inside the garage, its mobile capability uses algorithms to instantly calculate the available customer time slots according to the nearest van location and parts availability.
This Bridgestone investment in Avayler comes after a period of rapid growth. Its first customer was American Tire Distributors Inc., one of the largest independent suppliers of tyres in North America’s replacement tyre market. Since then, Avayler has won several significant contracts with operators around the globe, including Tirebuyer in the US and Mobivia in Central Europe.
Halfords CEO Graham Stapleton said the Bridgestone investment in Avayler is an essential endorsement by one of the world’s largest automotive businesses.
“With Avayler a little over two years old, Bridgestone’s investment at this stage is testimony to their confidence in the business and the strength of Avayler’s ground-breaking solution to allow automotive companies to offer completely integrated on and off-site support to customers,” he said.
As well as becoming a shareholder in Avayler, Bridgestone will deploy Avayler solutions to support its mobility solutions and applications for drivers, fleet managers, and vehicle owners.
