Best Auto Companies in Virginia, United States
The 113 best Auto companies in Virginia, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: CarMax.
Our analysis of 50 Auto companies
$9.4b in tracked funding; 94% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Auto companies in Virginia
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CarMax Retailer of used cars | $1.0B | 148 mo ago | Public | William D. Nash CEO | 1993 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Compare.com Online insurance comparison platform for individuals | $185M | 91 mo ago | Acquired | — | 2013 | StoryblokAmazon ALBAmazon Web Services+16 | — | — |
| 3 | Urgently Online platform to book on demand car repair and roadside assistance services 53Funding top 27%Talent top 28%Product top 31%Tech top 34% All 10 signals ▾Fundingtop 27% Talenttop 28% Producttop 31% Techtop 34% Growthbottom 49% Fin. healthbottom 46% Marketbottom 45% Globalbottom 37% Newsbottom 36% Moatbottom 33% Funding: Raised $44.3M across 8 rounds · 8 rounds over 12 yrs (0.7/yr) Talent: Analyst team rating 4/5 rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 53/100 | $44M | 15 mo ago | Acquired | — | 2014 | DrupalApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+33 | — | — |
| 4 | Safire Technology Group Developer of hybrid-state liquid-to-solid shear thickening battery safety technology 13Funding top 33%Moat top 48%Talent bottom 49%Global bottom 37% All 7 signals ▾Fundingtop 33% Moattop 48% Talentbottom 49% Globalbottom 37% Techbottom 36% Marketbottom 18% Newsbottom 18% Funding: Raised $10.9M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 2 yrs (1.0/yr) Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 5/10 · 9 curated direct competitors tracked rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 13/100 | $11M | 6 mo ago | Seed | John Lee Co-Founder & CEO | 2020 | WebflowjsDelivrCloudflare+6 | — | — |
| 5 | DriveFactor Online usage-based auto insurance provider | $9M | 154 mo ago | Acquired | Steven McKay Founder | 2010 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Motor Provider of electric vehicle dealership, subscription, and charging services | $7M | 40 mo ago | Series A | Praveen Kathpal CEO | 2019 | — | — | — |
| 7 | TROVA Commerical Vehicles Manufacturer and brand of commercial vehicles | $1M | 43 mo ago | Seed | — | 2019 | — | — | — |
| 8 | Merlinio Technologies Platform to buy auto insurance | $663K | 89 mo ago | Seed | — | 2016 | — | — | — |
| 9 | FetchAQuote On-demand auto insurance marketplace offering quick, cheap quotes for diverse customers | $656K | 128 mo ago | Seed | Berkley Jolly Co-Founder & CEO | 2013 | — | — | — |
| 10 | MAXSA Innovations Provider of auto accessories | $200K | 99 mo ago | Seed | Skip West Owner | 2003 | Cart FunctionalityBigCommerceZURB Foundation+18 | — | — |
| 11 | Kollmorgen Provider of motors, drives, and motion systems for OEMs | — | 113 mo ago | Public | Dan St Martin CEO & President | 1914 | Cart FunctionalityDrupalPHP+26 | 230 patents Reliable PCB protection, motor torque control, and networked power‑supply automation solutions. | 1 launch |
| 12 | Advance Auto Parts Retailer of automotive parts and accessories to aftermarket dealers | — | 128 mo ago | Public | Shane O'Kelly CEO & President | 1932 | — | — | — |
Top 12 Auto companies in Virginia
#1
Seed · Mclean, Virginia · founded 2020 · 3 employees$10.9Mraised▾
Developer of hybrid-state liquid-to-solid shear thickening battery safety technology. Its patented li-ion shear thickening battery electrolyte additive stops explosion/fire through an instantaneous liquid-to-solid transformation upon mechanical impact and imparts ballistic protection against projectiles. This leads to safer batteries in electric vehicles.
- Dec 2025Seed$2.7M
- Jun 2024Seed$10.9M
#2
Acquired · Vienna, Virginia · founded 2014 · 285 employees$44.3Mraised▾
Online platform to book on demand car repair and roadside assistance services. It combines location-based services, real-time data, AI and machine-to-machine communication to power roadside assistance solutions for leading brands across automotive OEM, fleet, rental and other transportation-focused verticals. It allows customers to discover nearby service providers in the app, connect and request service by paying in the app, and track location and arrival.
- Feb 2025Post IPO$1.1M
- Apr 2023Series B$3.5M
- Dec 2021Conventional Debt$17.5M
- Jan 2021Series B—
#3
Public · Richmond, Virginia · founded 1993 · 30993 employees$1Braised▾
Retailer of used cars. Its offered services include car sales & purchase, extended protection plans, finance, reconditioning & vehicle repair, and spare parts & accessories. In 2022, the company recorded annual revenues of $33.19B and a net profit of $1.15B.
- Feb 2014Conventional Debt$1B
#4
Acquired · Glen Allen, Virginia · founded 2013 · 19 employees$185Mraised▾
Compare.com provides an online insurance comparison platform for individuals. Consumers can get rate estimates, compare car insurance & choose the preferred one. It also provides expert recommendations & guides on auto insurance.
- Nov 2018Series B$35M
#5
Series A · Arlington, Virginia · founded 2019 · 25 employees$7Mraised▾
Provider of electric vehicle dealership, subscription, and charging services
- Feb 2023Series A$7M
#6
Acquired · Glen Allen, Virginia · founded 2010 · 13 employees$8.7Mraised▾
Online usage-based auto insurance provider. It provides telematics technology & statistical analysis of driving data. Their relationships with manufacturers allow them to measure highly predictive variables and provide tracking and driver feedback at industry-leading low cost to facilitate usage-based insurance.
- Aug 2013Series A$3.2M
- Dec 2011Series A$1.8M
- Sep 2011Seed$1.1M
- Jun 2011Seed$2.5M
#7
Seed · Virginia · founded 2019 · 2 employees$1Mraised▾
Manufacturer and brand of commercial vehicles
- Oct 2022Seed$1M
#8
Seed · Richmond, Virginia · founded 2016$663Kraised▾
Merlinio Technologies is an insurance platform that lets user compare and buy auto insurance. As of Sept 2016, it is in beta mode.
- Jan 2019Seed$663K
#9
Seed · Virginia Beach, Virginia · founded 2013$655.8Kraised▾
On-demand auto insurance marketplace offering quick, cheap quotes for diverse customers. It is an online platform where consumers shop, compare rates, and purchase auto insurance. It specializes in offering insurance carriers for people with various income levels, credit scores, and driving histories. It provides a white-label insurance solution for auto lenders, insurance monitoring companies, automotive dealerships, automotive research sites, vehicle service contract marketers, and websites selling vehicles. The platform helps customers save money on auto insurance, potentially increasing their spending on partner sites and generating revenue through the insurance marketplace. This is a B2B and B2C platform.
- Oct 2015Seed$655.8K
#10
Seed · Fairfax Station, Virginia · founded 2003$200Kraised▾
MAXSA Innovations is dedicated to creating unique and truly innovative products designed to protect and ensure safety. Their products are available through various retail chains, specialty stores, catalogs, and online retailers in the US and Canada.
- Feb 2018Seed$200K
#11
Public · Radford, Virginia · founded 1914 · 774 employees—raised▾
Kollmorgen is the provider of motion systems and components to OEMs. They offers automation platforms, AC servo, stepper drives, accessories, motors, direct drive linear and rotary, stepper, brush DC, wash down food grade, explosion-proof motors, linear motion systems, such as electric cylinders, rodless actuators, precision tables, and direct drive linear products like automated guided vehicle controls and gearheads. Kollmorgen also provides technical support, training, education services and more.
#12
Public · Roanoke, Virginia · founded 1932 · 40000 employees—raised▾
Advance Auto Parts is a retailer of automotive parts and accessories to aftermarket dealers. Sells brakes parts and shoes, brake rotors, radiators, water pumps, starters, wheel bearings, and others. The company operates over 5,200 stores, over 100 Worldpac branches and serves approximately 1,300 independently owned & branded stores in the United States, Mexico, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. In 2022, the company recorded annual revenues of $11.15B and a net profit of $0.5B.
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Auto coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Autonomous Vehicles in Virginia is moving
A read on the academic research around Autonomous Vehicles in Virginia — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 111 papers.
Virginia Tech and University of Virginia lead AV safety and technology research (98 recent papers), with concern-dominant findings (47) yielding a cautiously contested stance despite notable breakthrough activity.
- University of Virginia\'s College at Wise43
- Virginia Tech31
- University of Virginia30
- Virginia Commonwealth University6
- Virginia Tech Transportation Institute4
- Institutionalisation6
- Relevance (law)6
- Human–computer interaction5
- Metadata5
- Proxy (statistics)4
- Human–computer interaction4
- Computer security4
- Intersection (aeronautics)3
- Real-time computing3
- Perception3
- Metadata11
- Volatility (finance)10
- Descriptive statistics10
- Ephemeral key8
- Institutionalisation7
Common questions
Riya reads income statements for fun. She covers the real money in a sector — revenue, growth, who actually earns — and never met a vague claim she didn't want a number for.