Online car retailer Cazoo has acquired automotive data insights platform Cazana for around £25m in cash under its plans for UK growth and European expansion.

Cazoo said the acquisition of Cazana will enable it to enhance data team and capabilities, and allow it to further optimise its car buying and pricing across the UK and Europe

Founded in 2012, Cazana provides data to fleets, carmakers, leasing firms and insurers. Its products include real-time vehicle valuation, pricing and stock management tools, drawing on a dataset of more than 500 million historic vehicle transactions from over 40 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

Cazoo said the deal will enable it to enhance data team and capabilities, and allow it to further optimise its car buying and pricing across the UK and Europe. The firm was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman and launched in the UK two years ago as the ‘Amazon of cars’ in the used car sector. It’s since sold more than 35,000 cars in the UK and branched into new car subscriptions with the acquisition of Drover in December 2020. It’s also gearing up to launch its proposition later this year in both France and Germany.

Cazoo’s Alex Chesterman said: “Cazana has built one of the leading data insights platforms, providing tools which are used by manufacturers, lenders, fleet owners and insurers in the automotive space. This acquisition will enhance our data team and capabilities and enable us to further optimise our buying and pricing of vehicles across the UK and Europe. I am looking forward to welcoming the Cazana team to Cazoo as we continue our mission to deliver the best car buying and selling experience to consumers across Europe.”

Cazana’s subsidiary Car & Classic was not part of the transaction and CEO Tom Wood and COO Chris Varin will remain with the Car & Classic business.

Tom Wood commented: “Cazoo has a clear vision and strategy to provide the best full stack car buying and selling experience across Europe and by joining forces, the Cazana team, data and products will continue to play a key part in accelerating the digital transformation of the industry. Chris and I are excited to be continuing our journey leading Car & Classic whilst supporting the integration of the Cazana business with Cazoo over the coming months.”