When Christopher Howard and Rowan Mockler crossed paths at Stanford, they weren’t pitching dreams or chasing buzzwords, they were coding the future, one side project at a time. But after enough late-night sessions and AI-heavy builds, they locked onto a brutal truth: while Tesla had proved that online vehicle checkout could work, the rest of the auto industry was still stuck in the paperwork apocalypse. Car buying, in 2022, was still running on fumes and fax machines. So, they built Ekho, not as an echo of old models, but as the new sound of vehicle commerce. Crisp, fast, and unmistakably modern.
Fast forward to July 2025, and Ekho just raised a $17.3 million total round, $15 million Series A, plus the $2.3 million Seed that helped them turn theory into throttle. The round was led by Activant Capital, a firm with a thesis so sharp it might just be AI-generated. Backing also came from J.P. Morgan Payments, Winnebago Industries, Y Combinator (S22), RiverPark Ventures, Westcott Investment Group, and Funding Secured, the Tesla alumni fund that doesn’t throw cash at anything without torque. Oh, and did we mention the individual investors? Severin Hacker (Duolingo CTO), Billy Blaustein (Tesla Direct Delivery), Jimmy Douglas (Tesla), and auto legend Steve Rayman. That’s not a cap table, it’s an advisory war room.
Ekho isn’t just digitizing the car-buying process, they’re engineering a new operating system for a $1 trillion market. Their modular, white-label platform powers 100% online checkouts, financing, insurance, taxes, title, and compliance, in minutes. And they’re already fueling digital sales for 20+ vehicle brands, including four publicly traded OEMs. Whether it’s motorcycles, UTVs, RVs, or boats, Ekho’s turning “dealer drama” into API elegance.
Behind the curtain, it’s a microservices architecture that scales like a DJ building to a sunrise set. State-by-state compliance? Built in. PCI-compliant payments? Locked. Patents on modular workflows and automated compliance? Pending, but the execution is already loud. This isn’t a B2B toolset, it’s a full-stack movement.
Ekho’s secret isn’t just tech. It’s traction. Maeving, a UK-based electric motorcycle brand, expanded into the U.S. in a single month using Ekho. Winnebago didn’t just invest, they plugged Ekho into their ecosystem. And let’s be honest: when your first year of live sales drives “tens of millions” in partner revenue, you’re not a startup, you’re a signal.
Big congrats to Rowan Mockler (CEO) and Christopher Howard (CTO) for building something the market didn’t just need, it was begging for. And props to Mike Cunningham for helping navigate dealer waters most wouldn’t dip a toe into. Ekho is what happens when Stanford engineers stop theorizing and start shipping real velocity.
The platform is live. The funding is in. The ignition sequence has started. The only thing that’s still analog? Everyone trying to catch up.
