CarData
CarData, Inc. is a US-based automotive lot service provider delivering recurring photography, video, Spin360 tours, and merchandising content to franchise car dealerships. The company operates a field service model with regular on-site visits and has expanded nationally through acquisitions since 2023.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersGoldsboro, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CarData does
CarData, Inc. is a US-based automotive merchandising services company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Goldsboro, North Carolina after a 2025 relocation from Pompano Beach, Florida. The company provides recurring lot photography, walkaround video, interactive Spin360 tours, window labels and buyers guides, YouTube marketing, and TextUps SMS messaging to franchise new-car dealerships, with field crews visiting dealer lots five to six days per week under ongoing service contracts. Its technology stack is built on HomeNet's DigitalLot mobile application for in-field capture and integrates with dealer tooling partners including MAX Digital and JustCall, while a channel partnership with Velocity Automotive Marketing supports customer acquisition and the entry into the Southern California market.
The business operates on a recurring subscription / lot-service contract model, supplemented by a freemium trial and direct field sales. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, but the contract structure is consistent with low-thousands-per-month per dealership recurring revenue across a distributed book of franchise dealer customers spanning multiple OEMs (Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Acura, Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, and Nissan among named logos). Go-to-market combines direct sales with channel partners, the most consequential being Velocity Automotive Marketing, through which Tristar Digital Services was acquired in March 2025.
Since 2021 CarData has executed five acquisitions, beginning with Rush Marketing Services in January 2021 and accelerating into a roll-up phase from late 2023 onward: AutoNetTools (December 2023), Dealer Visual (January 2024), Tristar Digital Services (March 2025), and DiamondLot (November 2025). These transactions have expanded the company's service footprint from a Southeast base into the Midwest and Southern California. The company employs 101-250 personnel, is privately held and for-profit, and has publicly discussed plans to apply AI to image, video, and text content generation across its merchandising workflow in 2026. No funding rounds, revenue figures, or AI-specific technical disclosures are publicly available in the input data.
CarData firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CarData
- Legal name
- CarData, Inc.
- Website
- https://cardata.us
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- CarData, Inc. is a US-based automotive lot service provider delivering recurring photography, video, Spin360 tours, and merchandising content to franchise car dealerships. The company operates a field service model with regular on-site visits and has expanded nationally through acquisitions since 2023.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where CarData is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Goldsboro
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
CarData business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Photography and Videography Services: Ongoing photography and video services provided to car dealerships, with regular scheduled visits (5-6 days per week) to photograph inventory. Revenue generated through recurring service contracts with dealerships.
- Acquisition Integration Revenue: Revenue growth driven by strategic acquisitions expanding service footprint: AutoNetTools (Michigan, Dec 2023), Dealer Visual (Ohio, Jan 2024), Tristar Digital Services (Southern California, Mar 2025), DiamondLot (Southern California, Nov 2025).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | First month free trial for new dealership clients |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels9 records
CarData product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CarData provides full-service vehicle inventory merchandising for franchise car dealerships, delivering professional high-definition photography, walkaround videos, and interactive Spin360 360-degree virtual vehicle tours. Field photographers visit dealership lots 5-6 days per week to capture and produce online marketing assets, with supporting offerings including window labels/buyers guides, YouTube video distribution, and SMS customer communication.
Product overview
CarData, Inc. is a full-service automotive advertising company providing a comprehensive vehicle inventory merchandising solution for car dealerships. The core product portfolio consists of Vehicle Photography (high-definition exterior and interior photos), Vehicle Videos (professional walkaround video content), and Spin360 (interactive 360-degree virtual vehicle tours). Supporting add-on services include Window Labels & Buyers Guide printing, YouTube Marketing Platform for video distribution, and TextUps SMS customer communication. The company operates as a lot service provider, sending professional photographers and videographers to dealership lots to capture and create marketing content. The recent acquisitions of AutoNetTools, Dealer Visual, Tristar Digital Services, and DiamondLot have expanded CarData's geographic coverage and technical capabilities in photography, videography, and window sticker creation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Vehicle Photography Professional high-definition photography services capturing vehicle exteriors and interiors for franchise car dealerships, with field photographers visiting dealership lots 5-6 days per week to photograph inventory and produce premium online listing photos.
- Vehicle Videos Professional 1-2 minute walkaround videos featuring complete interior and exterior coverage of each vehicle for dealership online marketing and VDP (Vehicle Detail Page) listings.
- Spin360 Interactive 360-degree virtual vehicle merchandising technology that enables online car shoppers to virtually walk around and inspect vehicles from their screens, including interactive hotspots and mobile-friendly playback.
- Window Labels & Buyers Guide Creation and printing of window labels and buyers guides for vehicle merchandising at franchise dealerships.
- YouTube Marketing Platform YouTube-based video marketing and hosting platform for automotive dealerships, integrated to help dealerships reach online car shoppers through video content distribution.
- TextUps SMS/text messaging service for customer communications, including appointment confirmations, service updates, order notifications, customer support responses, and promotional messages to opted-in customers.
Quantifiable outcome
- 87% of customers find 360-degree spins important when shopping for vehicles online (Cox Automotive data cited by CarData)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use CarData
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
CarData technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature4 records
CarData partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Velocity Automotive MarketingcoreStrategic partnership with Velocity Automotive Marketing for joint expansion into Southern California. CarData and Velocity acquired Tristar Digital Services together, with Velocity serving as a channel partner for vehicle photography services in the Southern California market. This partnership strengthens CarData's reach and enhances its ability to deliver automotive photography and digital merchandising solutions throughout the region.
- LotpopminorLotpop is a dealership data collection and analysis firm that helps automotive retailers with staffing and sales processes. CarData is mentioned alongside Lotpop in industry coverage as complementary providers helping dealerships move more vehicles off lots through improved inventory merchandising.
- American Cancer SocietyminorCarData partnered with the American Cancer Society (ACS) in Miami-Dade County to support cancer patients and families. As a company that values giving back to the community, CarData collaborates with ACS to make a positive impact in the local community.
- HomeNet (DigitalLot)coreCarData uses HomeNet's DigitalLot mobile application as its primary platform for vehicle photography and inventory management. The app allows downloading dealership inventory, managing photo capture workflow, syncing data, and organizing multiple dealership rooftops. The DigitalLot platform is used by CarData photographers in the field for all service operations.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
CarData competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- SpinCar (CarGurus): SpinCar pioneered interactive 360-degree vehicle walkarounds for dealerships and is now part of CarGurus. It is the closest direct competitor to CarData's Spin360 product and broader digital merchandising suite.
- ePix: ePix provides on-site and mobile vehicle photography, video, and 360 tours for dealerships nationally. Highly comparable services and customer base to CarData's lot service offering.
Broad incumbents
- Cox Automotive: Cox Automotive owns Autotrader, Dealer.com, Kelley Blue Book, vAuto, and Dealertrack, providing a full spectrum of dealership marketing, inventory, and CRM tools, including competing digital merchandising platforms.
- DealerSocket (Reynolds and Reynolds): DealerSocket offers CRM, inventory, and digital retailing tools to franchise dealers competing in the same merchandising workflow that CarData supports.
- CarGurus: CarGurus operates a major vehicle listing marketplace and has integrated SpinCar's 360 technology, making it a broad incumbent in dealer digital merchandising and customer acquisition.
- Cars.com: Cars.com is a leading U.S. automotive marketplace and digital marketing provider that competes for the same dealer merchandising and lead-conversion wallet share as CarData.
Emerging players
- PureCars: PureCars provides digital advertising and marketing automation for dealerships, with growing capabilities in merchandising content and inventory marketing that overlap with CarData's product set.
- LotVantage: LotVantage offers digital marketing and merchandising tools for auto dealers, serving a similar SMB/dealer-group customer base with overlapping functionality in inventory presentation and online merchandising.
Others
- HomeNet: HomeNet provides DigitalLot and other inventory merchandising software to dealers and is the underlying technology platform CarData's field photographers rely on; strategically OTHERS as a vendor/integrator.
- MAX Digital: MAX Digital is an inventory management software vendor for dealerships that CarData references as a complementary partner; comparable ecosystem role in dealership merchandising workflows.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CarData social profiles
Digital presenceCarData financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CarData leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
CarData funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CarData M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A5 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CarData
What does CarData do?
CarData provides full-service vehicle inventory merchandising for franchise car dealerships, delivering professional high-definition photography, walkaround videos, and interactive Spin360 360-degree virtual vehicle tours. Field photographers visit dealership lots 5-6 days per week to capture and produce online marketing assets, with supporting offerings including window labels/buyers guides, YouTube video distribution, and SMS customer communication.
Is CarData a public or private company?
CarData is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CarData founded?
CarData was founded in 2015. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is CarData based?
CarData is headquartered in Goldsboro, United States, in the North America region.
How does CarData make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Photography and Videography Services are the primary driver. The others are acquisition Integration Revenue.
Who are CarData's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are SpinCar (CarGurus) and ePix. Broad incumbents are Cox Automotive, DealerSocket (Reynolds and Reynolds), CarGurus and Cars.com. Emerging players are PureCars and LotVantage. Others are HomeNet and MAX Digital.
Does CarData have an API?
No public API is recorded for CarData.