CLEVELAND -

Sometimes, one of the most challenging parts of vehicles changing ownership is completing the title work.

Champ Titles is trying to smooth that process and now has more financial resources to do so.

On Wednesday, the technology company that looking to modify the way that vehicle titles are created, managed and transferred in the United States, has closed an $8.5 million Series A investment.

According to a news release, the round was led by EOS Venture Partners and W. R. Berkley Corporation, and it brings the company’s combined funding to more than $17.5 million.

Champ Titles was launched in 2018 and can reduce the amount of time it takes to create, manage, or transfer a vehicle title to just one day.

The company highlighted the money raised will be used to accelerate the distribution of its technology across multiple vehicle title ecosystem verticals and a broader geographic footprint.

“What we are doing here saves not only weeks in processing time but money for everyone,” Champ Titles chief executive officer Shane Bigelow said. “The world is rapidly digitizing, and Champ’s end-to-end vehicle titling solutions are being adopted at a high rate because we significantly reduce the time and effort required to create, manage or transfer the vehicle title. This funding will allow us to roll out Champ Titles faster to more users across the entire U.S.”

“Coming on the heels of the recent announcement of our strategic partnership with Copart, Inc., we are honored to receive investments from such accomplished institutional and strategic investors — W. R. Berkley Corporation, Ally Ventures, Guidewire Software, Inc., and State Auto Insurance as well as great venture firms in EOS Venture Partners, Westerly Ventures, Sadie Ventures, A100x Ventures, and XBTO Humla Ventures,” Bigelow continued. “Their support of our efforts means a great deal to our team, our customers, and to our future.”

Champ Titles solutions are designed for insurance carriers, automotive retailers, finance companies, state governments and others. Products Champ Titles currently has in production include:

— Digital total loss, which can allow insurance carriers to more quickly acquire and dispose of vehicles in instances of total loss by digitizing the process from owner engagement to title application submission, reducing cycle times significantly

— DMV SaaS, which can give state agencies the ability to modernize their title and registration systems, providing significant benefits to all users of these upgraded systems

Mike Nannizzi, a director at W. R. Berkley with responsibility for fintech investments, said, “Transferring title after a total loss is a slow process that involves many parties. Digitization allows the whole chain of participants in a title transfer to cooperate in a secure and efficient manner, and drive better outcomes for everyone involved. Having earned the support of such a strong group of strategic partners — many of which participate in that same chain — we believe Champ’s team and technology are best positioned to execute on this very significant opportunity.”

Jonathan Kalman, a founding partner of EOS Venture Partners and another of the lead investors in the latest round of funding, added: “We are delighted to support Champ Titles. Champ securely digitizes what is currently a complex paper-based process and in doing so they help everyone who is involved in the selling of a vehicle. They are in the right place, at the right time, fulfilling a country-wide need to digitize the transfer of auto titles.”

To learn more about the Champ Titles platform, visit www.champtitles.com or send a message to info@champtitles.com.