The round was led by Menlo Ventures, with additional participation from Lux Capital, Construct Capital, Haystack Ventures, Allstate Strategic Ventures, and Liberty Mutual Ventures.
Founded in 2021, Kinetic currently operates four core hubs across the US, with plans to launch an additional four in the near future. The startup offers scanning, programming, and calibration of modern vehicles equipped with advanced tech systems via its Kinetic Hubs, which are staffed by qualified technicians.
The company also has revenue-sharing agreements with traditional collision repair companies, dealerships, and rental fleets. Kinetic claims to have created a robotic system that applies computer vision and machine learning to rapidly diagnose issues with vehicles’ digital systems.
Shawn Carolan, Partner at Menlo Ventures, said: “Drivers are looking to maximise safety while minimising insurance spend, which, unfortunately, has been pressured by the higher costs of repairing modern vehicles equipped with the sensors, software, and digital systems that add intelligence. We’re partnering with Kinetic because its service model has the power to reduce costs by using technology. By making digital repair faster, more accurate, and more efficient, Kinetic’s service hubs will ultimately drive down costs and increase the adoption of environmentally friendly vehicles such as EVs and plug-in hybrids.
We’re committed to partnering with innovators who are building the infrastructure of the future, and we’re confident Nikhil and the Kinetic team have the expertise to scale this model and help meet the increased demand for efficient repair of modern vehicles,” Carolan added.
Nikil Naikal, CEO and Co-Founder of Kinetic, added: “Kinetic is laser-focused on solving consumers’ pain points by leveraging AI and robotics to make modern vehicle repair effortless and cost-effective. We are proud to partner with Shawn and Menlo Ventures, who are globally respected for their early investments in technologies that have since become part of our everyday lives, including Uber, Roku, and Siri, and the rest of this group of visionary investors as we scale our service model and drive EV adoption by bringing down the total cost of ownership for consumers.”
