ACV Auctions to expand Chennai city ops in the New Year

CHENNAI: In March this year, the US-based ACV, a B2B digital automotive marketplace for American dealers and commercial partners, flagged its presence with a new technology development centre here. This is its second hub outside the US.

Helming the centre is employee number one, Sathish Vaidyanathan, VP, Head of auctions, ACV Auctions, who spoke to DT Next recently to give an overview of the company’s global capability centre’s operations. “We are 75-odd people at the Chennai centre along the lines of our growth plans. By next year, we are looking to touch 140 to 150 people-count,” he said, adding the scaling up effort would be focused on recruiting people with competencies in data science, artificial intelligence and cloud technologies. ACV began operations in Buffalo in 2014 and thereafter went public in 2021. For 8-9 years, it organically acquired companies that fit its profile, while it continued to amplify its supply base. Its business model is to leverage data insights and proprietary technology to assist franchise dealer and independent dealers in the US to inspect, buy, sell, finance and arrange transport for vehicles, Vaidyanathan said.

The primary reason for choosing Chennai is the availability of talent and culture fit, the leader said, adding the US entity had identified the southern IT nerve-centre to globalise its operations. ACV has technical hubs in France and Ireland also.

The high-growth auto marketplace company plans to scale its India operations rapidly to leverage Chennai’s availability of highly-skilled technology professionals and its reputation in automotive and SaaS industries.

ACV’s aim is to transform the US automotive industry by building efficient digital marketplace and data solutions for sourcing, selling, and managing used vehicles with transparency and comprehensive insights that were once unimaginable.

Vaidyanathan said, “Our goal is to build a vibrant team in India and to contribute significantly to ACV’s global vision. Our focus will be on harnessing the stellar local technology talent to enhance our product offerings and operational efficiencies.” He then went on to cite some examples that made it possible to bring in improved efficiencies in the digital marketplace auction process. For instance, part of the ecosystem is the ability to do the inspection prior to the listing.

“The vehicle condition inspection is done using advanced technologies. Our hardware products are able to offer inspection information of the car chassis or detect even the engine noise coming from the bonnet of the car,” he said, adding an elliptical camera with AI technology made it possible to offer solutions that made the listing and customer engagement more precise.

By such a tech intervention, the prediction of the car price is possible using current market data. Since the auction time lasts only 20 minutes on the marketplace, the estimated price submitted by ACV ensures that the transaction is completed through the auction platform.