Spyne raises $16 million Series A to drive US expansion, AI innovation

Spyne, an AI-powered visual merchandising platform for the automotive industry, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures. The round also witnessed participation from existing investors, including Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital, which doubled down on their investments in the startup.

 

This investment will fuel Spyne’s growth trajectory, focusing on aggressive expansion in the US and developing its next-generation AI solutions designed to transform automotive retail.

 

"This investment marks a pivotal moment for Spyne as we accelerate our US expansion and push the boundaries of what AI can do for automotive retail," said Sanjay Varnwal, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Spyne. "Our vision is to make digital vehicle showcasing smarter, faster, and more immersive for dealerships worldwide."

 

 

With a strong foothold in the Indian and global markets, Spyne plans to expand its dealer base from 1,500 to over 20,000 rooftops worldwide in the coming years. The fresh capital will enable the company to enhance its AI-powered platform, broaden its technology infrastructure, and expand into new international markets, including high-growth regions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

 

Further, Spyne is evolving beyond its core visual merchandising capabilities to build a unified GenAI and large language model (LLM)-powered automotive retail suite. This solution will empower small and medium-sized dealers by addressing every aspect of their retail journey—from vehicle sourcing and pricing to digitisation, distribution, and AI-driven customer management, transforming how dealerships will operate using Agentic AI.

 

To support this ambitious goal, Spyne is establishing a dedicated US business development team. This will be led by an experienced country head, alongside a team of account executives and customer success professionals. This strategic move will further strengthen the startup’s brand presence in the country and build deeper connections with dealerships, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and marketplaces.

 

Piyush Kharbanda, general partner at Vertex Ventures SEAI, said that Vertex has a longstanding thesis around specialised AI applications solving vertical use cases. "Spyne has proven this in solving a fundamental pain point for auto dealerships, leveraging AI to optimise vehicle merchandising and retail operations at scale," Kharbanda said.

 

Pratik Agarwal, principal at Accel, said the Spyne team’s resilience in solving go-to-market (GTM) challenges, combined with their capital-efficient approach, has brought them close to profitability.

 

Over the past 15 months, Spyne has experienced five-fold growth and is targeting a three-fold revenue increase in FY26. The company continues to expand into new international markets, including high-growth regions in EMEA and APAC, replicating its successful US go-to-market strategy to drive further global adoption.