Carwow acquires GRIDSERVE Leasing

Carwow Group has completed the acquisition of GRIDSERVE Car Leasing from GRIDSERVE, the on-the-go EV charging company, as part of its ambitious plans to rapidly accelerate its mission to be the online car changing marketplace. GRIDSERVE Car Leasing is a leasing broker currently focused exclusively on EV lease deals.

Carwow Group raised US$52m (£41m) in July this year in a new funding round led by global venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners to help supercharge its strategic growth plans including further scaling, product expansion and acquisitions.

This latest acquisition is Carwow Group’s second in 2024 as it also bought Autovia, the automotive content and commerce media company in February, which saw established print and digital titles including Auto Express, evo, DrivingElectric and Carbuyer becoming part of its portfolio.

The newly acquired business will allow Carwow to further enhance its popular car leasing comparison engine which provides consumers with access to a huge range of cars from brokers across the UK. Carwow will list its leasing offers alongside those from its existing partners in order to provide even more choice.

The newly acquired leasing operation will run as an independent business unit, led by GRIDSERVE Leasing Director, Rob Buckland. Whilst GRIDSERVE has historically only focused on leasing EV models, Carwow intends to expand the proposition to include PHEV and ICE cars once the brand is relaunched later in Q4 with a new name and visual identity.

Commenting on the acquisition, John Veichmanis, Carwow Group CEO said: “Bringing GRIDSERVE Car Leasing into the fold will enable us to develop a range of exciting new product experiences for those that are looking to lease their new car.

“We plan to substantially increase our overall investment into the leasing category and quickly expand our reach. We want to serve more customers looking to lease a car whilst also providing our existing broker partners with more enquiries on our pay-on-results model.”

“I am really excited to welcome Rob and his team to Carwow. They’ve a huge amount of collective experience and energy and we can’t wait for them to get started,” he added.

Roy Williamson from GRIDSERVE said: “We are delighted to announce that GRIDSERVE’s car leasing business has been acquired by Carwow, under whose guidance and support the team will be able to accelerate their work to offer drivers a comprehensive range of leasing solutions.

“The acquisition follows GRIDSERVE’s decision to focus on its core activities to deliver High Power charging, powered by renewables, in locations where drivers need it the most. “