Bridgestone takes a 5% stake in Halfords business

Bridgestone has acquired a 5% stake in Halfords' automotive software company, Avayler, valuing the business that was launched in July 2021, at more than $60 million (£49m).

The commercial agreement will allow Bridgestone to leverage Avayler’s products in retail stores and mobile applications.

The Avayler software was developed in-house by Halfords to manage automotive services across its garage network and increasing number of mobile vans.

As well as streamlining customer bookings – online, over the phone, and in-store – and job execution inside the garage, its mobile capability uses algorithms to instantly calculate the available customer time slots according to the nearest van location and parts availability.

The Avayler platform uses dynamic pricing to value those slots accurately, it says, with automotive service providers able to calculate the cheapest and quickest routes to a customer; maximise productivity on the job; give details of traffic on the road; and provide an employee with detailed checklists to ensure a safe and consistent service is provided.

Customers can also track the location and ETA of their service delivery.

Halfords CEO, Graham Stapleton, said: “The Bridgestone investment in Avayler is an important endorsement by one of the world’s largest automotive businesses.

“With Avayler a little over two years old, Bridgestone’s investment at this stage is testimony to their confidence in the business and the strength of Avayler’s ground-breaking solution to allow automotive companies to offer completely integrated on and off-site support to customers.

“As well as becoming a shareholder in Avayler, Bridgestone will also deploy Avayler solutions to support its own mobility solutions and applications for drivers, fleet managers, and vehicle owners.”

The Bridgestone investment in Avayler comes after a period of rapid growth. Its first customer was American Tire Distributors, one of the largest independent suppliers of tyres to the replacement tyre market in North America.

Since then, Avayler has won a number of significant contracts with operators around the globe, including Tirebuyer in the US and Mobivia in Central Europe.

Avayler operates as a standalone entity within the Halfords Group.