Nautilus: AI platform to grow and to optimize car washes

AI platform to grow and to optimize car washes

Nautilus is the first modern platform built for car washes, replacing expensive legacy systems that cost operators thousands monthly. Nautilus delivers mobile-first e-commerce, membership management, and automated marketing. Learn more at nautilus.co.

Active Founders

Amayr Babar

Founder

Captain at Nautilus Amayr holds an A.B. and a B.E. in Engineering from Dartmouth. He previously worked as a software engineering intern at Medtronic, contributing to surgical robotics development. Before co-founding Nautilus, he led Sabres Media, a software studio that built custom digital tools for clients across industries including car washes, healthcare, retail, and professional services.

Amayr Babar

Founder

Captain at Nautilus Amayr holds an A.B. and a B.E. in Engineering from Dartmouth. He previously worked as a software engineering intern at Medtronic, contributing to surgical robotics development. Before co-founding Nautilus, he led Sabres Media, a software studio that built custom digital tools for clients across industries including car washes, healthcare, retail, and professional services.

Ali Sareini

Founder & CTO

Ali Sareini is the co-founder and CTO at Nautilus. He holds a B.S. in CS from the University of Virginia and left Dartmouth’s MEM program to build Nautilus full-time. Previously, he built critical money-movement systems at Fidelity Investments. Ali led SABRES, a private consulting firm, and serves on the board of a Missouri-based public-safety company. He got his start at Autobell Car Wash in high school — now he builds the software the industry runs on.

Ali Sareini

Founder & CTO

Ali Sareini is the co-founder and CTO at Nautilus. He holds a B.S. in CS from the University of Virginia and left Dartmouth’s MEM program to build Nautilus full-time. Previously, he built critical money-movement systems at Fidelity Investments. Ali led SABRES, a private consulting firm, and serves on the board of a Missouri-based public-safety company. He got his start at Autobell Car Wash in high school — now he builds the software the industry runs on.

Company Launches

Nautilus: The AI platform to grow and optimize car washes

See original launch post

TL;DR:

Nautilus is an all-in-one AI-powered CRM, e-commerce, and marketing automation platform for car washes. We’ve partnered with car washes nationwide, helping operators increase online sales, decrease churn, and improve retention.

https://youtu.be/J5aY1itNYYA

The Problem:

Car wash operators are stuck with outdated POS systems and limited modern CRM infrastructure. To sell memberships, run promotions, or follow up with customers, they rely on a patchwork of tools such as spreadsheets, texting platforms, email software, and old-school portals.

This leads to:

Missed revenue opportunities
High churn with limited recovery
Zero visibility into performance
Limited customer data capture

Our Solution:

Nautilus is a modern operating system for car wash growth. We Integrate with legacy car wash POS systems
Centralize all customer and performance data into a unified CRM
Provide an e-commerce storefront for online membership and member management
Automate SMS and email marketing triggered by customer behavior
Apply AI to optimize campaigns, provide insights to their legacy POS data, and surface next best actions to improve revenues

Operators use Nautilus to run thousands of daily automations from upsells to win-backs, all without manual work. What used to take weeks now happens in real time.

Why We’re Building This

We’re engineers and former car washers who’ve seen this problem up close. Amayr studied engineering and computer science at Dartmouth and spent two years building custom tools for car wash operators to grow online sales, manage memberships, and automate operations. Ali started as a top-performing cashier at Autobell, where he saw firsthand how outdated systems led to long lines, missed revenue, and frustrated customers. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he worked as a software engineer at Fidelity Investments before joining Amayr at Dartmouth, where we were completing our master’s degrees in engineering management.

We’ve been friends for over 10 years, and we’ve experienced the car wash problem both on the ground and from the system level. We built Nautilus to give operators the platform they’ve never had, one that’s purpose built for growth, automation, and real-time decision-making.

How can you help?

We’re looking to connect with car wash owners and operators. If you know someone in the space, we’d love an intro. As a thank-you, we’ll give the referred operator our premium Compass AI product for free (a $750/month value) to help them optimize operations from day one.

Reach us at founders@nautilus.co. Thank you for your support!

Welcome aboard! We’re just getting started.

Grateful to be part of the S25 crew,

Amayr & Ali

https://natlu.us/launchyc