A San Diego startup that wants to turn smartphone photos of cars into permanent condition records has raised $10 million, with former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg’s investment firm leading the round. Self Inspection is betting that the next big automotive database won’t just track titles, accidents and service — it will track every scratch, dent and tire issue along the way.
The financing was announced last Monday, and The San Diego Union-Tribune brought the local company’s new backing into focus Tuesday. Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners led the round, joined by U.S. AutoForce, Westlake Financial, Costanoa Ventures, Rebellion Ventures and BrightCap Ventures. Self Inspection was founded in 2021 and is led by CEO Constantine Yaremtso, with former Tesla service executive Karim Bousta among its earlier backers.
The pitch is straightforward: Send a customer, driver, renter or inspector a link, have them photograph a vehicle with a phone, and let software compare those images against damage data. TechCrunch reported that the platform can flag damage, estimate repair costs and generate detailed reports, while Stellantis Financial Services uses it for corporate vehicles and lease-end inspections. That puts Self Inspection in the less glamorous — but very expensive — middle of rentals, lending, resale and fleet operations.
Self Inspection Wants To Become A Car’s Condition Record
The company’s broader ambition is to create one trusted record that follows a vehicle from purchase through rental, financing, servicing, return, resale or retirement. In its funding announcement, Self Inspection said its platform combines guided mobile photo capture, AI damage detection, standardized condition reports and an auditable history tied to each vehicle.
Self Inspection says it has completed more than 1 million inspections, helped customers save over 300,000 operational hours and cut more than $80 million in costs. Those are company-reported figures, but they show the scale of the mundane problem the startup is trying to standardize: proving what a vehicle looked like before and after someone else had it, according to TechCrunch.
Fresh Funding Follows An Earlier San Diego Startup Bet
The company says the new capital will fund product development, artificial-intelligence capabilities, deeper enterprise work and expansion across North America and Europe. Sandberg said vehicle condition touches billions of dollars in automotive decisions each year, a rationale that helps explain why investors are treating a better scratch report as potential industry infrastructure, according to Self Inspection.
The round follows a $3 million seed announced in February 2025, co-led by Costanoa Ventures and DVx Ventures, the firm founded by former Tesla President Jon McNeill. In that earlier coverage, TechCrunch described Self Inspection’s phone-first approach as an effort to make a traditionally slow, manual process faster for lenders, dealerships and rental companies.
