Solera

Solera’s Autodata Acquires AutoMate Training

Autodata Publishing Group, a Solera Holdings group company, has confirmed the acquisition of AutoMate Training, a provider of online technical training and professional development platforms to the automotive industry.

Founded and based in Sydney, Australia, Solera says AutoMate has rapidly expanded from a fledgling start-up to become a globally competitive player, offering automotive eLearning to thousands of automotive professionals and workshops in more than 60 countries. The company says AutoMate’s online training programmes are developed by a highly-experienced team of automotive experts and specialists, with the programmes combining cutting-edge 3D visualisation with comprehensive real-vehicle analysis.

Solera says that AutoMate and Autodata are both trusted and valued information service providers to more than 85,000 automotive workshops across the world, as well as corporate clients in the automotive service, maintenance and repair (“SMR”) industry. The company says Autodata itself is recognised as the go-to automotive data solution for workshops with many countries seeing 80 per cent of workshops choosing Autodata to meet their service, maintenance and diagnostics needs.

“Joining the Solera family is a logical and exciting next step on our strategic journey as a company,” said Jonathan Sampson, Managing Director and founder of AutoMate. “This union will see AutoMate’s renowned training programmes made available in new global markets and will ensure increased business growth through further product development. AutoMate’s eLearning expertise, combined with Autodata’s highly advanced diagnostic and repair data, promises to deliver new and existing customers a compelling suite of products for the automotive mechanic.”

“AutoMate’s innovative solutions and strong management team provide immediate value with Solera,” said Rod Williams, Managing Director of Autodata. “Together we provide immense value to Solera’s 400,000+ SMR users, enabling us to further capitalise on the opportunity to support both our existing users and beyond with AutoMate’s solutions.”

Solera Holdings Appoints Jeff Tarr as New CEO

Solera Holdings has announced that Jeff Tarr has joined the company as a director and its new CEO. Tarr, who replaces Tony Aquila as CEO, will lead the company in its next phase of growth.

Tarr has two decades of experience leading data and technology-enabled services companies spanning multiple sectors. Most recently, Tarr served as CEO and President of DigitalGlobe, where he led the launch of products that leveraged AI and other new technologies, entered new markets and nearly tripled the company’s revenue. Before DigitalGlobe, Tarr was President and COO of IHS (now IHS Markit) where he helped transform the business into a high-growth, high-margin provider of information and insight.

“I am honoured to be joining Solera, and I look forward to working with the team to continue to grow the company, invest in our products and deliver an industry-leading experience to Solera’s customers and partners,” said Tarr. “For over 50 years, Solera has been leveraging data and software to serve the automotive and insurance industries. With more than 300 million transactions annually across the Solera ecosystem today, no company is better positioned to apply data and technology to protecting the assets people depend upon in their daily lives.”

Tarr serves on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards, including as Chairman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Management Board, Co-Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Council on the Future of Space Technologies, Member of the Board of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.