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BMW is backing an online used car marketplace

Shift Technologies

Shift, an online marketplace for used cars, has raised $38 million in Series C funding led by BMW iVentures.

Industry view: Shift's latest funding comes within months of rival Beepi shutting down (after raising $150 million), and Carvana going public and trading well. "I think it's nothing but good news for Shift because we have a very clear comp" in the public market, Shift CEO George Arison told Axios. "The beauty of this industry is that it's not a winner-take-all situation."

Shift data:

  • Shift says it made $9.5 million in gross profit last year (Carvana brought in $19 million, for comparison).
  • 50% of Shift's total customers are millennials, though more sellers are millennials.
  • 70% of customers who use Shift's financing services are millennials.
  • Roughly 55-65% of all Shift buyers get financing, which is less than traditional car dealerships, according to Arison.

Deal: Along with BMW, new investors DCM and G2VP, were joined by existing Shift backers DFJ, Highland Capital Partners, and Goldman Sachs Investment Partners also participated. BMW iVentures partner Christian Noske joined the board, with DCM's Jason Krikorian and G2VP's Brook Porter joining as observers.

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8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Scoop: Gina Haspel threatened to resign over plan to install Kash Patel as CIA deputy

CIA Director Gina Haspel. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Coronavirus deaths reach 4,000 per day as hospitals remain in crisis mode — CDC warns highly transmissible coronavirus variant could become dominant in U.S. in March.
  2. Politics: Biden says, "We will manage the hell out of" vaccine distribution — Biden taps ex-FDA chief to lead Operation Warp Speed amid rollout of COVID plan — Widow of GOP congressman-elect who died of COVID-19 will run to fill his seat.
  3. Vaccine: Battling Black mistrust of the vaccines — "Pharmacy deserts" could become vaccine deserts — Instacart to give $25 to shoppers who get vaccine.
  4. Economy: Unemployment filings explode again — Fed chair: No interest rate hike coming any time soon —  Inflation rose more than expected in December.
  5. World: WHO team arrives in China to investigate pandemic origins.
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John Weaver, Lincoln Project co-founder, acknowledges “inappropriate” messages

John Weaver aboard John McCain's campaign plane in February 2000. Photo: Robert Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

John Weaver, a veteran Republican operative who co-founded the Lincoln Project, declared in a statement to Axios on Friday that he sent “inappropriate,” sexually charged messages to multiple men.

  • “To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Weaver said.
  • “The truth is that I'm gay,” he added. “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
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