We’re very excited to announce an investment in SparkServ out of our DealerFund.
Automotive Venture partners with visionary founders to drive innovation across the Automotive and Mobility ecosystems. Today, we’re thrilled to share why we decided to lead the pre-seed round for SparkServ, an emerging leader in Fixed Operations (parts & service) optimization for automotive dealerships.
The Problem
We believe that the software ecosystem addressing the service side of dealership operations remains underinvested, underoptimized and fragmented. While a dealership’s Fixed Operations can drive more than half of its total profit, dealers today control only about 30% of the service market share while often struggling to maximize the potential of their Service BDC (Business Development Center) teams. Service BDC agents are tasked with filling service bays and driving revenue, but they often lack the tools to do this efficiently, leading to missed opportunities, customer dissatisfaction, inefficiencies, employee frustration and turnover.
As dealer margins return to pre-COVID levels and consumer service loyalty hits record lows, the need for dealerships to invest in Fixed Operations has never been greater. Yet, traditional systems fail to adequately support BDC teams, who juggle siloed tools and disjointed processes.
The SparkServ Solution
SparkServ’s platform aggregates data across a dealership’s technology stack, enabling Service BDC agents to create personalized outreach plans for every customer interaction. This innovation streamlines workflows, reduces errors, and significantly boosts productivity. Early results from SparkServ customers have been remarkable, including a 53% improvement in the productivity of bottom-performing agents and significant revenue gains.
At the Gregg Young Automotive Group, SparkServ has delivered over $400,000 in additional annualized gross profit. BDC Manager Morgan van Haaften attributes this success to SparkServ’s ability to guide her team through every step of booking service appointments. Morgan shared, “SparkServ is everything that they say it is, and then some. It works, plain and simple.”
Why We Invested
SparkServ embodies everything we look for in an investment: a compelling market opportunity, a proven need for innovation, and a visionary team capable of executing their mission.
Founders McKenna Valley (CEO) and TJ Higgins (CTO) are two dynamic leaders whose complementary skills and experiences give SparkServ a powerful edge.
McKenna Valley brings a unique blend of venture capital and operational expertise to the table. A former VC at the Dutch Founders Fund, McKenna also has extensive experience in Operations, Enablement, and Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy, honed during her time as Chief of Staff at Happeo and in GTM strategy roles at Reprise. Her deep understanding of scaling businesses and optimizing operations equips her to tackle the complex challenges of Fixed Operations.
TJ Higgins, SparkServ’s CTO, is a seasoned full-stack engineer and serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of building innovative technology platforms. Before SparkServ, TJ was the Founder and CTO of Architect.io, where he led the development of advanced devops automation solutions. He also served as Principal Engineer at Catalant and InsightSquared, where he played a pivotal role in creating a business intelligence platform. TJ’s expertise in devops, automation, and software engineering ensures that SparkServ’s technology remains at the cutting edge of the automotive industry.
Together, McKenna and TJ represent the ideal leadership duo: McKenna’s strategic and operational insights, combined with TJ’s technical acumen, create a foundation for driving transformative results for dealerships.
SparkServ is a perfect fit for the Automotive Ventures DealerFund, which is backed by dealership owners focused on technologies that directly enhance their operations and profitability. By empowering Service BDC teams with AI-driven solutions, SparkServ is driving tangible results for dealerships, helping them retain customers, improve operational efficiency, and reclaim market share in the service lane.
Looking Ahead
We’re excited to support SparkServ as they transform the service lane experience for dealerships across North America. Their platform not only bridges gaps in legacy systems but also equips dealerships with the tools to thrive in a highly competitive market.
With McKenna and TJ at the helm, we are confident that SparkServ will scale its impact and help dealerships turn their service departments into a cornerstone of profitability.
To learn more about SparkServ, visit www.sparkserv.com.
To see the press release on the investment, click here.
