Octane, a startup that offers “instant” financing for large recreational and lifestyle purchases, has raised $100 million in a Series F round with a post-money valuation of $1.3 billion, it tells Crunchbase News exclusively.
Repeat backer Valar Ventures led the raise, which included participation from Upper90, Huntington National Bank, Camping World, Holler-Classic Family and others. Half of the raise was primary financing, and the other half went toward a secondary share sale to provide existing shareholders, including current and former employees, liquidity, according to CEO and co-founder Jason Guss.
Prior to this round, New York-based Octane had raised $242 million in funding — not including debt financing — since it was founded in 2014, according to Guss. The company says it has also completed $4.7 billion in asset-backed securitizations since 2019.
Octane’s latest round comes amid a busy period for fintech investment overall: Global venture funding to financial technology startups in 2025 has, as of Dec. 11, reached $49.4 billion across 3,545 deals, per Crunchbase data. That’s a 30% increase in dollars raised compared to the $38 billion raised across 4,630 deals during the same time period in 2024.
Octane started as a secured point-of-sale lender to give consumers more financing options for powersports items such as motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles. It has since expanded into the RV, marine, mower, tractor, trailer and auto markets. And it has also evolved its model to include a white-label captive lending platform, dubbed “Captive-as-a-Service,” that allows retailers and manufacturers to offer financing to their customers under the brand of their choice.
“Captive-as-a-Service brings together technology, underwriting, loan processing and servicing, and capital markets execution in a single platform under the partner’s chosen brand,” Guss told Crunchbase News. The advantage for the retailer, he said, is to give them a way to diversify their revenue streams, build long-term enterprise value, and strengthen their customer retention.
The company has various partnerships with OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers, and dealer partners in the markets it serves. It also offers a variety of products, such as Octane Prequal and Prequal Flex, designed to help retailers land customers.
“A lot of VCs believe SaaS companies should just focus on pure tech and lenders should just do lending,” Guss said. “We believe that the best companies need to do both. … By offering various services typically not offered by lenders integrated with a lending product, we are able to add value beyond simply selling money cheaper.”
Growing reach
Refreshingly, Octane is open to providing some details on its financials. The startup says it was GAAP net income profitable in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Guss projects the company will have about $80 million in adjusted EBITDA for 2025.
Since its inception, Octane has generated over $7.5 billion in loans. In 2024, it originated over $1.6 billion in loans and is on pace to originate over $2.1 billion this year, according to Guss.
It has over 4,000 dealer partners, and works with over 60 original equipment manufacturing brand partners. Presently, it has over 600 employees.
The company makes money through platform fees, paid by either merchants or OEM partners primarily for promotional financing. It also makes money by selling loans, through servicing income and performance fees. For loans it holds it earns interest income.
Guss believes that some fintechs are “afraid” to admit they are a lender or “avoid it entirely because some VCs believe lending is bad.”
“Lending isn’t bad, bad lending is bad,” he said. “Good lending is one of the oldest and most robust business models in the world.”
Looking ahead, Guss believes Octane can provide value to any market where consumers make a large-ticket purchase and where retailers and manufacturers can benefit from owning and integrating their own financial products.
For his part, Valar founding partner James Fitzgerald described Octane’s offering, which combines software and financing products, as “unique.”
“We expect Octane to continue to take market share — both in its existing markets and in those it’s only begun to enter — for a very long time,” he said in a release. “One of the investing lessons of the past two decades is that the best tech companies can compound for far longer than expected.”
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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