Australian car subscription company Loopit Group has announced the hire of David McClatchey as National Sales Director, and Richard Sands as Head of Engineering. The hires come just weeks after Loopit officially launched in the UK. Based in Sydney, both positions will lead national teams and support the business’s plans for further growth this year.
What is appointees’ industry expertise?
David McClatchey brings with him over 6 years of experience leading sales within a diverse range of SaaS businesses, from startups, to pre-IPO and Unicorn Status. He has extensive industry knowledge and exposure to varying GTM strategies across industries, market segments and stakeholders. In the new position at Loopit, McClatchey will lead a Loopit’s national sales strategy, to further expand and manage the company’s growing client base.
David McClatchey, National Sales Director at Loopit said: “I am thrilled to join the Loopit team and proud to be part of such an innovative, trailblazing brand. There is an evident need for subscription in the automotive market, which provides huge scope for expansion and makes me incredibly excited for the future of this business. I look forward to working with the strong team we have in place to continue growing the local and global car subscription market.”
Industry veteran Richard Sands has been appointed as Head of Engineering, to lead Loopit’s technology development across the company. He has over 15 years of experience in building and scaling technology-driven companies, and extensive automotive industry knowledge.
He has previously held senior positions at major brands including leading the technology team at CarsGuide. Sands also worked on launching the AutoTrader brand in Australia with a ground-up platform build, whilst hiring, onboarding and mentoring the team.
What do the appointees’ bring to Loopit?
Michael Higgins, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Loopit said: “We are pleased to welcome both David and Richard to the team. They have joined the firm at a significant period, as we embark on a new chapter of growth for the company. David and Richard’s experience in driving the expansion of highly reputable brands and tech, will contribute to the continued growth not only of our business, but the car subscription model more broadly.”
Richard Sands, Head of Engineering at Loopit said: “It’s truly an exciting time and a great opportunity to be part of Australia’s thriving technology industry, and I’m thrilled to be joining a company that has been a pioneer in subscription software for the automotive space.”
“Loopit’s upcoming capital raising provides a huge scope to expand its growing footprint in local and international markets. I look forward to working with the strong team we have in place to build on the company’s recent success,” Richard further commented.
What is Loopit’s market offering?
Loopit is a cloud-based end-to-end software solution that allows car dealerships, OEMs and emerging car subscription providers to offer car subscription-as-a-service to its customers.
Car subscription services such as HelloCars have been increasing in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with consumers looking for a more flexible alternative to traditional car ownership. Over the lockdown period, Loopit saw a massive 52% increase in enquiries from dealerships wanting to integrate subscriptions into their business model.
The Loopit platform provides dealerships with “subscription in a box,” including the software, training and services needed to offer car subscription to customers simply and easily.
With Loopit integrated onto their websites, dealer partners simply need to select cars from their stock to make available for subscription. Clients can choose the car they want and subscribe online. In 2019, Titan DMS became the first distributor for the platform in the Australian market, offering the subscription solution to car dealerships around the country.
Dealer Solutions – which is part of Cox Automotive – was Loopit’s first integrated website partner, offering the subscription to its network of dealers currently using Dealer Solutions as their preferred website partner. The Titan DMS and Dealer Solutions networks combined provide Loopit with access to over 1,000 dealers nationally.
