Crush Secures $3 Million to Power Next-Gen Yard Management

Salt Lake City, Utah — October 2, 2025

Crush Software Solutions LLC, which recently acquired the assets of S3 Software Solutions, is expanding and modernizing the Crush yard management system, used by more than 200 self-service auto recycling yards across the U.S. and Canada. The company has raised $3 million to accelerate development of Crush 2.0, featuring cloud architecture, advanced analytics, and real-time vehicle purchasing tools.

With the acquisition, S3 Software Solutions has been dissolved, but the transition ensures continuity in software development while enabling Crush to scale, strengthen security, and expand its engineering team. The deal officially closed on September 19, 2025, though development had already begun.

Founder and Chief Operating Officer Dimitri Gerontis continues to oversee day-to-day operations and product development, providing institutional knowledge and maintaining a seamless experience for existing customers.

From graph paper to industry leader

For Gerontis, the Crush story began on the ground in a Salt Lake auto recycling yard. Fresh out of college, Gerontis joined extended family in running a local auto recycling operation. The business was growing fast, and the lack of purpose-built software quickly became a choke point.

“At first, we were literally running the yard on grid paper and old McDonald’s cash registers I had reprogrammed,” recalled Gerontis. “We’d outgrown that in no time, and the software we tried wasn’t built for what we needed.”

Gerontis began sketching potential solutions by hand. “I drew out the screens themselves on grid paper—where buttons would go, what the cashier would see, how a transaction could flow. I wasn’t thinking about software. I was thinking about the user experience and how to remove friction.”

One major bottleneck was checkout. Unlike a grocery store where every item has a barcode, recycling yards deal with thousands of unique parts pulled from cars of varying makes, models and years. Cashiers often struggled to identify and price items quickly.

“I developed a hierarchical menu that grouped parts by section of the car—engine bay, body, transmission—then drilled down to specific items. That way, even someone without an automotive background could navigate quickly,” explained Gerontis. “It cut out a ton of time and reduced errors.”

From those sketches came Crush, which grew from an internal tool to a sellable product now supporting more than 200 yards across the U.S. and Canada.

A changing industry

The auto recycling industry faces both headwinds and opportunity. Gerontis pointed to macro trends reshaping the sector:

• Vehicle complexity: “Fewer and fewer people are willing to work on their vehicles as they add computers and technology. You open the hood and all you see is a plastic cover—you can’t even identify components.”
• COVID disruptions: “During COVID, people held onto cars longer, so there were fewer old vehicles being retired. That meant yards struggled to source inventory just as demand for parts skyrocketed.”
• Electric vehicles: “EVs change the parts profile entirely. Seats and body panels are still swappable, but batteries and motors aren’t easy to harvest. That reduces the number of parts available to resell.”
• Global scrap market: Yard revenue is also tied to secondary metal demand. “When the world economy is hot, scrap prices rise and yards do well. It’s directly tied to steel demand.”

Despite these challenges, Gerontis believes the sector is entering a phase of transformation. “I don’t think the industry is in a slump—it’s morphing. The opportunity is in applying business intelligence at scale. In every other industry, data is at the forefront. We’re bringing that to auto recycling.”

Crush 2.0

The company’s roadmap for Crush 2.0 reflects that vision. The new release will feature:

• A complete re-engineering on modern cloud infrastructure.
• Data-driven vehicle acquisition and real-time pricing tools.
• Marketplace integrations for sourcing and sales.
• Enterprise-grade analytics and security with KPI dashboards.

“Independent operators deserve technology that works for them,” said lead investor and longtime owner and operator of five self-service yards, Tom D. Klauer Jr. “This investment will modernize the platform and return buying power to independents.”

Gerontis emphasized continuity for existing customers: “For current users, nothing changes immediately. Same platform, no disruption—just more investment. But the new architecture will allow us to deliver features faster, strengthen security, and boost performance.”

Teaming up with operators and technologists

Crush’s leadership combines operator experience with technology expertise.

• Dimitri Gerontis, founder of S3, is COO, overseeing product development and customer success.
• Ryan Paterson, CEO, brings more than 20 years of experience in federal and commercial tech markets, including big data and enterprise system deployments.
• Tom Klauer Jr. and Kendig K. Kneen contribute decades of operational experience, having run more than 70 yards between them. Klauer, a former iPull-uPull President who scaled that company to ~$500M in revenue, brings decades of operational experience alongside Kendig K. Kneen, a veteran of scrap equipment and U-Pull-It operations.
• Kay Schaefer, CPO, adds startup and digital platform scaling expertise.

The team already includes 10 full-time engineers, focusing on reengineering the platform and implementing incremental improvements.

Gerontis sees this mix as the company’s advantage. “We’ve built a team where conversations are exciting every day. Tom brings the perspective of operating five busy stores, Ryan brings big-data analytics, Kay brings product vision. We feed off each other in a really positive way.”

With headquarters in Salt Lake City, Crush employs 10 engineers today and plans to add more as its roadmap advances. The $3 million infusion will fund that growth, reinforcing Utah’s position as a hub for enterprise software innovation.

For Gerontis, it’s the continuation of a journey that started with paper sketches. “We’ve always built by listening to customers,” he said. “This industry is a moving target—cars change, customers change, markets change. Our job is to help operators adapt and thrive. Crush 2.0 is the next step in that mission.”

Crush Software Solutions, which recently acquired S3 Software Solutions, now oversees the Crush platform, expanding and modernizing it into Crush 2.0 while S3 continues as the product’s original development arm.

Gerontis told TechBuzz that his team will be attending the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) 82nd Annual Convention & Expo in Birmingham, Alabama, scheduled for October 15–18, 2025. This event will take place at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and is a significant gathering for professionals in the automotive recycling industry.

To learn more, visit s3softwaresolutions.com.