STELLA Automotive AI received a nice gift from its investors this holiday season.

The provider of automotive artificial intelligence technology announced a new round of convertible loan financing that raised $11 million.

The Presidio Group, which advised STELLA in the financing, said the raise was led by Reynolds and Reynolds, a previously existing investor and strategic partner of the company. Other previous investors, including more than 15 large private automotive dealership groups, also participated, along with new investors Sheehy Auto Stores and Butler Automotive Group.

“The ongoing support from our original investors has been tremendous, and we appreciate their confidence in STELLA’s AI technology,” STELLA CEO Rich Sands said. “The market’s embrace of our technology has been robust, and this funding will help STELLA deliver our innovative products that improve operational efficiency and the customer experience to more dealerships. We expect STELLA’s rapid customer and revenue growth to continue over the next year.”

The company said it plans to use the capital raised to drive market growth by accelerating the onboarding of dealership clients, expand its team — including its leadership — advance product development and introduce enhanced features to its AI tools.

STELLA’s technology is designed to help dealerships engage with customers in a timely and helpful way with an AI assistant that can handle unlimited inbound calls and engage in natural language conversations 24/7.

STELLA said its assistant is trained on a wide range of automotive retail topics and can personalize the customer engagement process when booking service appointments, leading to higher customer retention and lower operating costs for dealerships. The technology integrates with existing dealership software offered by its partner Reynolds and other providers.

“We continue to invest heavily in artificial intelligence through both development and strategic partnerships,” Reynolds president Chris Walsh said. “The technology STELLA delivers creates huge efficiency gains for dealers, and when paired with Reynolds Spark AI unified data layer, the results increase exponentially.”

The Presidio Group said the backing from Reynolds and dealership groups gives STELLA “a framework for real-time feedback” that supports quick product enhancement, as well as demonstrating the immense potential of AI software in auto retailing.

“Presidio has seen the interest in AI solutions for the auto retail ecosystem skyrocket over the past year,” Presidio CEO Brodie Cobb said. “There is huge potential for AI tools to improve dealership efficiency and profitability and to make the sales and service experience for customers smoother and more painless. STELLA’s innovative technology is beginning to deliver on the promise artificial intelligence holds for the industry.”