The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Dec 2020

Recurrent is a software-only platform that analyzes EV battery health and produces standardized battery-health scores for consumers and dealerships. It ingests data from thousands of EVs daily and normalizes for driving behavior, charging patterns, and weather to enable apples-to-apples comparisons between used vehicles. Its battery health scores are displayed on consumer sites such as Edmunds.com and Cars.com, and the platform has attracted over 20,000 drivers. Recurrent’s mission is to give used EV buyers clearer insights into range dynamics and how batteries degrade over time. Founded in 2020 and based in Seattle, the company plans to bolster its used EV battery reporting capabilities following a recent fundraise. The startup reports a remarkable revenue surge and the CEO forecasts a tenfold expansion in the used EV sector over the next five years. Recurrent provides comprehensive EV battery reports that display Excellent/Good/Fair ratings and quantify a vehicle’s current range relative to its original range. Its reports are used by dealers, wholesalers and individual buyers to add transparency to the pre-owned EV market. The company says the new funding will be used to scale its product and further enhance features for corporate clients and EV owners. Recurrent has begun partnerships to deploy its ratings on dealer lots and in digital wholesale auctions. Del Grande Dealer Group will feature Recurrent ratings across its 19 rooftops, and a large used-auto wholesale auction provider will add ratings to its digital auctions. Recurrent was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Seattle. Recurrent provides third-party battery life and range reports to help buyers evaluate used electric vehicles. The startup collects real-world driving data from contributors and has nearly 3,000 EV drivers contributing data and has collected nearly 6 million individual data points. Recurrent launched in September as a spinout of Pioneer Square Labs and is led by co-founders CEO Scott Case and CTO Kyle Rippey. It has 11 employees and in December raised a $3.5 million seed round. The company is building what it describes as the largest real-world database of EV ranges and plans to expand contributor recruitment and validate vehicle battery data against hands-on diagnostics. The business benefits from rising used-EV prices — Recurrent reports used EV prices increased by about $1,500 on average over the past two months. Recurrent builds third-party battery condition reports for used electric-vehicle shoppers and monthly battery-analytics reports for EV owners. The company collects its data from roughly 2,500 volunteer EV drivers who use the Recurrent service. Recurrent says its product helps bring transparency to the growing used-EV market by verifying battery life and range. The startup will use the new financing to invest in continued product development as it refines its condition reports and battery analytics. Investors emphasized market timing given rising used-EV sales and favorable policy tailwinds for EV adoption.