October was the start of a 10 week workshop at BMW Financial Services’ UK headquarters, which will play host to five disruptive automotive finance startups in hopes of finding the next big digital solution in the industry.
Warwick Analytics, a winner in the program, specializes in digitally analyzing big data for its clients, especially old data that typically has to be cataloged manually. CEO Dan Somers told AFN, the company is relatively new to the auto finance sector but he hopes the relationships formed at BMW will help his team understand the industry.
“We can really try to understand the DNA of BMW and the auto finance industry,” Somers said. “Learning the nuances, the way people think, the cultures, the capabilities and the business needs, is something we would never normally get the chance to have on such an open dialogue. So hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to really fine tune applications for this industry, and clearly with BMW FS putting us on their growth lapse, they get the first bite at it, they get to shape it for their own benefit, and ultimately that’s got to be win win.”