Full Throttle, a Presidio Podcast

Chase Fraser: "This Is Seismic" — Inside FM Capital's $240M Bet on Auto Retail's AI Future

Jason Stein Episode 72

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0:00 | 30:25

Chase Fraser, Founding & Managing Partner of FM Capital, returns to Full Throttle for his most wide-ranging conversation yet. Fresh off closing Fund Four at ~$240M — oversubscribed by 20% and his largest to date — Chase pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to raise capital in today's market, why the barrier to entry for auto-tech startups has collapsed from $5M to $50K, and the "cleansing" he sees coming for an overcrowded vendor landscape.

He and Jason dig into where the real upside lives (hint: F&I and outbound AI calling), why humanoid robots may cut dealership labor faster than AI itself, and how FM Capital is building 36 of its own internal AI agents to triple the size of the firm without replacing a single person. Plus: the Impel double-down, the RockED bet, the Holman family partnership that unlocked Fund Four, and why Chase now invests in a founder's psychology above almost anything else.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Intro & closing Fund Four at $240M
5:14 Raising in a tough market & the coming vendor shakeout
8:49 What FM Capital looks for: betting on the mid-tier
12:03 Doubling down on Impel & the future of F&I
15:03 Outbound AI, humanoid robots & the dealership of the future
20:18 Building FM Capital's own AI agents & backing founders (RockED)
23:47 Valuations, M&A & what gets a founder to "yes"
27:03 What outsiders get wrong about AI + Presidio Summit (Oct 14, Denver)

🎟️ Join Chase and us at the Presidio Auto Technology Summit — Denver Art Museum, October 14.