carwow Founder passes CEO baton to John Veichmanis

July 11, 2023 by

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11 July 2023, London: Car buying and selling marketplace carwow has today announced that its Founder, James Hind, will be stepping aside as CEO after 14 years in the role.

Founded in 2009, carwow is now Europe’s largest online new and used car marketplace, with over 3 billion views on its YouTube channels.

James Hind will move into an Executive Director role on the board, while current COO John Veichmanis will become CEO. The appointment is subject to FCA approval.

Prior to carwow, Veichmanis was Chief Marketing Officer of online luxury fashion retail platform Farfetch, bringing over 20 years of senior leadership experience from innovative public tech companies, including Dell, Apple, Skype and Expedia.

Commenting on the appointment, James Hind said: “John has been transformational to carwow since he joined as COO three years ago. The business is in the strongest place it has ever been; a big part of that is down to him. John is exactly who we need to lead carwow to the next level and achieve its true potential in further helping consumers and our industry partners.

“I am incredibly proud of everything carwow has achieved so far. I vividly remember the first car ever bought through carwow, and it’s amazing that now hundreds of thousands of people have either bought or sold their car via carwow across the UK, Germany and Spain.”

John Veichmanis, who steps up to the CEO role with immediate effect, added: “carwow’s success is a testament to James’ vision and determination to help our customers and partners find, buy and sell cars online. I’m so excited and grateful for the opportunity to lead our amazing team at carwow, and work with the very best partners in the industry to build the go-to destination for anyone that is thinking about changing their car.”

About carwow

Carwow exists to give everyone car-confidence. With 3.5 million monthly users, we are a leading online car marketplace that sits uniquely in between customers, automotive brands and car dealers. Because we don’t hold any stock, we don’t mind which car consumers buy or sell, we’re here to help them make the right choice for them.

Since it was founded in 2013, by CEO James Hind, Alex Margolis and David Santoro, carwow has:

  • Launched its ‘Sell My Car’ service where consumers can easily list their cars at a great price, while letting dealers buy used-car stock directly from the platform
  • Raised $157m from some of the most prestigious technology, marketplace and automotive investors, including Balderton Capital, Accel, Vitruvian Partners, Episode and Samos
  • Become one of the most influential names in consumer car media with the biggest automotive channel on YouTube with +8 million subscribers, fronted by Mat Watson
  • Created an award-winning service that customers love, with a 4.7* rating on Trustpilot from over 40,000 reviews
  • Opened offices in the UK, Germany, Spain and Portugal with a combined team of 370 people

For more information visit www.carwow.co.uk