HomeCompaniesEkho

Shopify for vehicles

Ekho's end-to-end vehicle commerce platform powers compliant, digital sales of title vehicles. Our platform handles checkout, financing, titling, registration, signature collection, and taxes—so dealers and OEMs can sell nationwide with a seamless, Tesla-like experience. Dealers use Ekho Dealer as a “dealership-in-a-box” to capture online sales without needing large back-office teams, while OEMs use Ekho Access and Omni to extend their reach and unify dealers across sales channels.
Active Founders
Christopher Howard
Christopher Howard
Founder
Cofounder at Ekho Dealer. Previously ML at Meta. Stanford computer science bachelors and masters.
Rowan Mockler
Rowan Mockler
Founder
Cofounder at Ekho Dealer. Previously product at Duolingo. Stanford computer science grad.
Company Launches
Ekho Dealer: Enabling manufacturers to sell their vehicles online
See original launch post

TL;DR We’re a licensed, full-stack distribution solution enabling OEMs to compliantly sell vehicles in the U.S. through their websites, instantly unlocking market coverage.

Hi everyone, we’re Rowan and Chris - the team behind Ekho Dealer!

The problem ❌

It's legally and logistically complex for vehicle manufacturers and distributors to sell their vehicles online:

  • Franchise laws mandate that new vehicle sales must be made through a licensed dealer
  • Traditional dealers lack online sales support and take 20-30%+ commission
  • It is illegal for manufacturers to sell vehicles directly to consumers in most states
  • In states allowing direct sales, it’s expensive and difficult to operate compliantly

Our solution 🏁

Ekho Dealer enables manufacturers to compliantly sell their vehicles online by making it easy to integrate our licensed, full-stack distribution solution into their websites.

With Ekho Dealer enabled, vehicle buyers are able to select a vehicle on a manufacturer’s website and complete the entire purchase process online in minutes. This includes financing, insurance, titling, registering, and scheduling the delivery of their new vehicle (all without visiting a physical dealership).

How it works 🛠️

On the backend, we take care of all the complicated regulatory requirements that come with selling vehicles online. This includes calculating and collecting sales tax, filing registration/titling forms and fees with the DMV, maintaining a portfolio of licenses, and complying with lending regulations when providing financing. On the front end, our website integrations leverage our infrastructure to compliantly process vehicle sales.

Our backstory 🪞

  • Rowan and Chris met at Stanford where they both studied computer science
  • They built a bunch of fun stuff together while in college
  • Rowan is from South Africa, is a world champion public speaker, and previously worked on the product team at Duolingo
  • Chris is from Atlanta, is a published researcher, and previously worked as a Machine Learning Engineer at Meta

Our ask 🙏

  1. If you know someone in vehicle manufacturing (motorcycles, cars, RVs, trailers, ATVs, UTVs, LEVs, NEVs, golf carts, snowmobiles, etc.), ping us at founders@ekhodealer.com or direct them to our inbound form if you think they’ll find this interesting
  2. If you like what we are building, share and upvote!
Jobs at Ekho
New York, NY, US
$120K - $190K
3+ years
Ekho
Founded:2022
Batch:Summer 2022
Team Size:22
Status:
Active
Location:New York
Primary Partner:Jared Friedman