ACV recently reported and examined its first-quarter performance, while also sharing how its strategy is playing out in the current auction environment.

That strategy? Delivering solid revenue growth and market share gains, both of which occurred in the first quarter of 2022.

During the call, chief executive officer George Chamoun said, “We continued to broaden and deepen with our dealer partners who underpin our long-term growth opportunities.”

For example, the company reported first-quarter revenue of $103 million, up 49% year-over-year. The company expects full 2022 revenue to come in at $452 to $460 million.

Auction marketplace revenue came in at $44 million, up 28% year-over-year. And marketplace units sold jumped to 140,125 — up 9% from the same period of 2021, and up by 70% on a two-year basis.

The company said that although used-vehicle supply and demand trends remain difficult to predict, ACV has “multiple levers” in their business model and is sticking to its 2022 revenue guidance.

According to Chamoun, the company’s growth is driven by “market share gains, strong adoption of ACV’s value-added services and traction of our growing suite of data and SaaS products.”

The company also achieved nationwide coverage for its platform in 2021, helping them reach more dealers, as well as delivering new offerings this past year.

Looking at the company’s recent moves, a significant amount of time has been devoted to acquisitions to enhance its presence in the auto wholesale industry, as well as building an end-to-end platform for its growing customer base. ACV leaders discussed how the company has positioned itself in the rapidly evolving wholesale landscape.

One of the most recent moves for the company that held its successful IPO in March of last year, was the launch of a self-service floor plan portal for dealer customers using ACV Capital’s floor plan services. Dealer customers can now access a seamless post-auction financing solution through the floor plan program in the portal, which is now available.

And the company also recently launched an app to streamline operations for car haulers transporting vehicles from buyer to seller — another cog in its strategy to quest for an end-to-end platform, covering every phase of a wholesale vehicle’s lifecycle. The company has also recently rolled out new title-dependent products available through its financing arm, ACV Capital.

And technology isn’t the only portion of the business that has been in high performance mode for the company — it has also been building out its workforce, reaching over 2,000 employees with a chief legal officer hire. The company said Leanne Fitzgerald’s hire is fueled in part by the company’s acquisitions of MAX Digital, Drivably and Monk SAS in the past year, as well as its growing workforce. A new chief technology officer was also added to the company’s C-level team. Filling the role is industry veteran Bahman Koohestani.

Exploring recent acquisitions further adds color to the company’s ultimate strategy: Monk SAS is an imaging and vehicle inspection platform; MAX Digital allows dealers inventory and pricing guidance as well as merchandising and sales enhancement tools; and Drivably is a high-tech trade-in tool, and launched a new platform that gives dealer groups and commercial partners a way to host closed sales for select audiences: ACV PRIVATE MARKETPLACES. 

“After achieving nationwide coverage on ACV’s marketplace in 2021, we continued to attract new dealers, drive territory penetration and increase dealer wallet share. We also successfully launched new offerings that we believe position ACV to deliver sustainable long-term growth within the large market opportunity ahead of us,” Chamoun said in the press release announcing Q1 results.

During the earnings call, Chamoun explained he sees the ACV business as being broken down into three pillars to drive long-term stockholder value: growth, innovation and scale.

During the call, the ACV leader explored the pillar of growth within the business. Of course, we have to take into account the aforementioned acquisitions surge.

Beyond that, Chamoun said current growth is being driven by market demand.

“Consumer demand for used vehicles is a key driver of wholesale demand and supply, because consumers purchasing used vehicles usually have a trade-in,” he said.

After the market experienced historically high wholesale prices in 2021, prices declined during the first quarter, which does not mirror typical seasonal, historical patterns, Chamoun said.

And new-vehicle supply remains way below the normal average — down 16% in Q1, according to ACV.

“New-vehicle supply is important to our business because consumer trade-ins for new purchases are significant input into the wholesale market,” said Chamoun.

The volume of trades entering the wholesale market declined, resulting in a near-term contraction in the market that ACV serves.

But despite softening wholesale prices, GMV for ACV grew by 83% to $2.4 billion dollars, resulting from a broader mix of vehicles on its marketplace, Chamoun said.

“When taking into account a market retraction of 18% and vehicles sold increase of 9%, this would imply ACV grew market share by 27% year-over-year,” he said.

Moving on to pillar No. 2, Chamoun touched on the company’s appraisal tool, the company’s first offering in its category.

“This contributed to our strong unit growth in 2021, and continued to be a unique effective way for consumers to sell their vehicles on ACV’s marketplace through its dealer partners,” said Chamoun.

And the appraisal offering once again drove growth in Q1, but Chamoun says, “Success is just beginning.”

“Through the acquisitions of Drivably, Monk SAS and MAX Digital, we’re able to create a more comprehensive solution for our dealers on the consumer acquisition side, which we believe will increase our wallet share in wholesale,” Chamoun said. 

Covering the third pillar, the company will be focused on a “proven business model delivering growth at scale, with attractive Marketplace cohort dynamics, and long-term operating leverage,” it said in its slide presentation covering Q1 results and strategy.

Bill Zerella, ACV’s chief financial officer, explored the concept of scale during the call, saying, “Used-vehicle supply and demand trends remain difficult to predict, however we believe there are multiple paths to achieve our 2022 revenue guidance.”

Zerella says the company is well on track for its 2026 goal of reaching $1.3 billion in revenue.