ecosystem / companies / traderev

TradeRev

TradeRev ran real-time dealer-to-dealer car auctions from a phone: photograph a car, launch a live one-hour auction, and push it to dealer buyers. Mark Endras started programming it in Toronto in 2009. KAR Auction Services bought half in 2014 and the rest in 2017 for up to US$125M, and the brand was retired into OPENLANE Canada in 2023.

Acquired — Acquired fully by KAR Auction Services in 2017; brand retired and merged into OPENLANE Canada in 2023.

Automotive TechTorontoFounded 2009
$1B+of vehicles transacted through the system across three countries — TechTO stage 2017-01-24TechTO stage 2017-01-24 ↗
4Mbids on cars in the trailing twelve months, at a ~$250M valuation — TechTO stage 2017-10-27TechTO stage 2017-10-27 ↗
up to US$125Mpaid by KAR Auction Services for the remaining 50% in October 2017 — US$50M cash plus up to US$75M contingent over four yearsVehicle Remarket, 2017-10-03 ↗
160employees, with a US head office and a UK launch underway — TechTO stage 2017-01-24TechTO stage 2017-01-24 ↗

The people

Mark EndrasSVP & Chief Technology Officer · 2 TechTO talks
WC
Wade ChiaCo-founder & CTOprofile coming
JP
Jae PakCo-founderprofile coming
JT
James TaniCo-founderprofile coming

What they build

TradeRevMobile app for launching real-time dealer-to-dealer vehicle auctions, with payment and shipping handled on the platformProduct page ↗

Open roles via the TechTO Job Board

Working at TradeRev

Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. TradeRev’s roles show up here whenever they post.

Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗

Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.

On the TechTO stage

TECHTO14:01

Why raising a startup is like raising a child

January 2017
Watch on YouTube ↗
TECHTO10:32

Mark Endras of TradeRev

October 2017
Watch on YouTube ↗

Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about TradeRev ↗

About

Mark Endras grew up around his family's car dealership and started building TradeRev in 2009, after the iPhone and App Store made it possible to put a live auction in a dealer's hand. The pitch was transparency on the trade-in: photograph and list a car from the lot, run a one-hour live auction, and settle payment and shipping through the platform. KAR Auction Services took a 50% stake for US$30M in 2014 and acquired the remainder in October 2017 for US$50M cash plus up to US$75M contingent. KAR later rebranded as OPENLANE, and in 2023 TradeRev was merged with ADESA Canada into a unified OPENLANE Canada marketplace; the legacy platform was sunset that year and traderev.com now redirects to openlane.ca.

Backers

KAR Auction Services was the strategic backer and eventual owner — a 50% stake for US$30M in 2014, an additional $15M credit facility in 2017, and the remaining 50% in October 2017. Endras also describes a roughly $1M angel round from a customer in the company's early years, but names no investor and dates it differently in the two talks.

Some figures are founder-stated, not independently confirmed

Quick answers

What did TradeRev do?

It let car dealers photograph a vehicle and launch a live one-hour auction to other dealers from a phone, then handled the money movement and shipping. The pitch was transparency on the wholesale trade-in.

What happened to TradeRev?

KAR Auction Services bought 50% in 2014 and the remaining 50% in October 2017 for up to US$125M. KAR became OPENLANE, and in 2023 TradeRev was merged with ADESA Canada into OPENLANE Canada. The brand no longer exists independently and traderev.com redirects to openlane.ca.

Who founded TradeRev?

Mark Endras with Wade Chia, Jae Pak and James Tani. Endras started programming it in 2009, with an MVP in 2010 and sales from 2011.

Suggest an edit
Work here? Claim this page
Know someone who belongs here? Suggest a profile
Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Jul 16, 2026