What Stella Automotive AI does

Stella Automotive AI builds conversational AI voice agents deployed inside automotive dealership operations, with its primary product STELLA Service handling inbound phone calls — typically for service scheduling, parts inquiries, and reception — across multiple rooftop and dealer-group accounts. The product suite has expanded beyond the original voice agent to include STELLA Reception (front-desk handling), STELLA Catalyst (customer engagement), and STELLA Insights (analytics), all built on an underlying proprietary voice stack the company brands as IntellaVoice. The company has invested heavily in integrations with the major US dealership management systems — Reynolds & Reynolds, CDK Global, Tekion, DealerFX, and PBS Systems — plus adjacent vendor ecosystems such as Affinitiv, Volie, Update Promise, Client Command, and FordDirect, allowing Stella to plug directly into existing dealer workflows rather than displace them.

The go-to-market is enterprise SaaS sold to multi-rooftop dealer groups (Sheehy Auto Stores, Maroone USA, Ourisman Automotive, Valley Hi Toyota, Tom Wood Automotive, Vaughan Automotive, Mike Shaw Toyota, Sewell, West Herr among named customers), with procurement also enabled through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. The business model combines per-location SaaS pricing with usage-based voice AI components, producing a recurring-revenue stream tied to call volume and deployed rooftops. Total disclosed venture funding is approximately $34.7 million across three rounds between May 2023 and late 2024, with Reynolds and Reynolds and Ford Family Investments participating as strategic investors alongside The Presidio Group and a syndicate of dealer-group backers. The company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, employs 51-100 people, and is currently led by CEO Rich Sands.

Name

Stella Automotive AI

Legal name

STELLA AUTOMOTIVE AI, INC.

Website

https://stellaautomotive.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stella Automotive AI builds conversational AI voice agents (STELLA Service, Reception, Catalyst, Insights) deployed in US automotive dealerships, integrated with major dealership management systems and sold primarily to multi-rooftop dealer groups via enterprise SaaS and the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Automotive Dealership Software

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation) (HDAAAFAL), Customer Experience (CX) & Digital Experience (BPAHAEAC)

Keywords

• Conversational AI platform
• Automotive dealership software
• AI call handling
• Appointment scheduling software
• Dealer customer engagement

Headquarters

HQ city

Tampa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. AI Voice Assistant Subscription: STELLA offers AI-powered call handling, appointment scheduling, and customer engagement solutions on a subscription basis for automotive dealerships. Pricing is quote-based and varies by dealership size and configuration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

STELLA is a conversational AI platform purpose-built for automotive dealerships that answers and makes calls, sends and replies to texts, runs outbound campaigns, and books appointments directly into dealer schedulers across voice, SMS, and web chat channels 24/7. The platform combines a virtual receptionist, automated service scheduling, outbound engagement, and performance analytics, with native integration to major dealer management systems.

Product overview

STELLA Automotive AI is a conversational AI platform specifically designed for automotive dealerships, consisting of four core products: STELLA Service (automated appointment scheduling using dealer rules and opcodes), STELLA Reception (AI virtual receptionist for call answering and routing), STELLA Catalyst (outbound engagement via calls, SMS, and email), and STELLA Insights (performance analytics dashboard). The platform operates as a unified system where the AI handles customer interactions across voice, text, and web channels 24/7/365. STELLA integrates with major DMS platforms including CDK, Tekion, Reynolds & Reynolds, PBS Systems, and Dealer FX, as well as service schedulers like Xtime and Update Promise. A notable sub-product is IntellaVoice, a conquest marketing solution built in partnership with Client Command that identifies and engages in-market shoppers across dealer and competitor websites.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• STELLA Service: AI-powered appointment booking solution using defined rules, opcodes, and dealer policies
• STELLA Reception
• STELLA Catalyst
• STELLA Insights
• IntellaVoice

Products and services

• STELLA Service AI-powered service appointment booking solution that uses defined rules, automotive opcodes, and dealer policies to schedule service appointments directly into dealer schedulers. Handles inbound service calls, manages complex automotive repair operations, and books appointments in under two minutes.
• STELLA Reception AI virtual receptionist that answers every incoming call 24/7, handles FAQs, and routes callers to the appropriate employee or department, with multilingual English and Spanish support.
• STELLA Catalyst Outbound engagement AI that runs proactive calls, SMS, and email campaigns including recall outreach, service reminders, and declined services follow-up, with real-time personalized conversations to drive appointment bookings.
• STELLA Insights Analytics and reporting dashboard that provides real-time visibility into STELLA's call performance, customer interactions, booking conversion rates, and operational efficiency metrics.
• IntellaVoice (Conquest AI) AI-powered automotive conquest solution developed in partnership with Client Command that identifies anonymous in-market shoppers browsing dealer and competitor websites, initiates personalized proactive conversations, qualifies leads, and automatically schedules test drives.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85.7% of dealers consider call handling a significant challenge; dealers miss up to 26% of calls
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Client CommandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Joint development of IntellaVoice - an AI-powered conquest marketing solution that identifies anonymous in-market shoppers across billions of web pages and engages them with personalized STELLA AI conversations. Generated 12 vehicle sales and 127 service appointments in 27-day pilot.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationSTELLA AI is available in Microsoft Azure Marketplace and operates as a Microsoft Partner. STELLA AI CEO Rich Sands has spoken with Microsoft representatives at NADA 2025 about automotive AI insights and collaboration.
• Reynolds & ReynoldscoreTechnology or IntegrationCertified integration partner providing AI solutions to Reynolds & Reynolds dealer customers. Special collaboration announced at NADA 2025 with AI tool launch.
• CDK GlobalcoreTechnology or IntegrationCertified integration partner enabling STELLA to connect with CDK dealer management systems for seamless data synchronization and scheduling.
• TekionmajorTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partner connecting STELLA with Tekion's automotive retail platform for unified dealer operations.
• DealerFXmajorTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partner providing connectivity between STELLA AI and DealerFX dealer management solutions.
• AffinitivmajorTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partner connecting STELLA with Affinitiv's automotive marketing and customer engagement solutions.
• VoliemajorTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partner enabling STELLA to work with Volie's dealer marketing and customer data platform.
• FordDirect The ShopmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSTELLA AI is available through FordDirect The Shop program, making it accessible to Ford and Lincoln dealerships with OEM backing and credibility.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Impel: Impel provides AI-powered customer engagement and lifecycle automation software specifically for automotive dealerships, including chat, SMS, and equity-mining capabilities. It is the most directly comparable competitor to STELLA in the dealer-AI vertical, serving overlapping customer segments (franchised dealer groups) with overlapping solutions (conversational AI, lead nurturing, appointment setting).
• Sierra AI: Sierra builds vertical-specific conversational AI agents for enterprise customer service, with comparable proprietary features (knowledge retrieval, agent assist) and a similar SaaS enterprise sales motion. STELLA's vertical-AI specialization playbook mirrors Sierra's approach of embedding deeply in a single industry's workflows rather than competing horizontally.
• Decagon: Decagon delivers AI agents for customer support and service workflows across verticals, with a comparable architecture of intent understanding, knowledge retrieval, and integration with operational systems. Both companies compete for enterprise conversational AI deployments where domain depth is the primary differentiator from horizontal offerings.

Emerging players

• PolyAI: PolyAI provides voice-based conversational AI agents for enterprise customer service (hospitality, financial services, retail), with comparable enterprise sales motion and proprietary speech/NLP stack. STELLA's Reception product competes for the same budget line item (call center / BDC staffing) that PolyAI addresses in other verticals.
• Replicant: Replicant offers autonomous voice agents for contact-center automation across inbound and outbound calls. It is comparable to STELLA's Reception and Catalyst products in modality (voice) and deployment model (replacing or augmenting human BDC agents), with similar cost-reduction value propositions for enterprise customers.
• Cresta: Cresta provides real-time agent-assist and generative-AI solutions for contact centers, with overlap in agent-assist, real-time coaching, and conversation intelligence. STELLA's whisper technology and Catalyst outbound capabilities compete for similar enterprise procurement budgets around contact center productivity.

Broad incumbents

• CDK Global: CDK Global is a leading dealer management system (DMS) provider serving the majority of US franchised dealerships. As a current STELLA integration partner with deep dealer relationships, CDK could either expand or eliminate STELLA's role by embedding comparable AI features directly into its core platform.
• Tekion: Tekion is a cloud-native automotive retail platform competing with legacy DMS systems (CDK, Reynolds) for dealership software contracts. Its modern stack makes it a credible threat to embed native AI receptionist functionality, directly competing with STELLA Service and STELLA Reception for the same buyer.
• Cox Automotive: Cox Automotive is the largest provider of software and services to US dealerships (Dealertrack, VinSolutions, Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book). Its scale and existing dealer relationships make it a structural threat if it consolidates AI receptionist, BDC, and CRM features into a single bundled offering.

Others

• SoundHound for Auto: SoundHound's voice AI platform (expanded via Synq3/Qdai acquisitions) targets automotive dealership and quick-service-restaurant customer engagement. While broader than STELLA, it pursues a comparable conversational-AI-for-automotive-commercial-contexts use case and could compete for OEM-approved vendor lists.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/StellaforAuto
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stella-automotive-ai
• Facebookfacebook.com/Stella.Automotive

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stella Automotive AI