Pricelock gets $12M vote of confidence

Now business owners can set a price cap on the fuel prices they pay. Still won't help SUV owners

Just when the future was starting to look better for the big gas guzzlers, oil prices have started shooting up yet again, to the dismay of people who purchased massive trucks and SUVs under the erroneous belief that they would someday be worth in practicality what their ridonkulous pricetags gouged out of middle America. Turns out, not so much. 

To that end, Pricelock launched several years ago with a plan to offer price protection for businesses that rely on fleet vehicles, allowing clients to develop their businesses without having to pass off high fuel charges onto customers. On Tuesday, Pricelock announced the close of a $12 million Series B round led by Barclays, RenaissanceRe Ventures, and Travelers Insurance. Existing investor Artiman Ventures also participated in the round. The company previously raised $7.5 million in early 2008 from Goldman Sachs and Artiman Ventures, bringing the company's total raised to more than $19 million.

Founded in 2006, the company's platform is fairly straightforward. After creating an account on Pricelock, business owners set a fuel price cap against the national average. If the national average for gas prices exceeds the user's price cap, Pricelock pays the difference. And if gas prices remain lower than the user's price cap, then the user pays the lowest rate.

Makes you wonder how Pricelock makes money. The company explains that it buys price protection in bulk from investment banks and oil companies and resells it at a higher rate, just like any other retailer, and it uses the payouts it earns from the price protection plans it buys to make the payouts on plans that it sells. 

“We believe in the Pricelock business model because it offers an entrepreneurial way to provide fuel price solutions to businesses of all sizes so that those businesses are able to focus on their growth, rather than on their fuel costs,” said George Manahilov, managing director in the commodities group of Barclays Capital, in a statement.

Pricelock intends to use the new financing to build out its customer base and invest in marketing. 

Image source: Pricelock.com