17. Carspring

Founders: Maximilian Vollenbroich and Peter Baumgart
Founded: May 2015 (Launched August 2015)
Website: www.carspring.co.uk

Carspring is the latest in a line of companies that have sprung up in the last few years to disrupt the second-hand car market – which has traditionally been lacking in transparency and put the consumer second. For Maximilian Vollenbroich, his own experience of buying a first car and analysis of the automotive retail market led him to believe there must be a more efficient way.

Alongside Peter Baumgart, his colleague at management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, he started Carspring to enable UK consumers to buy and sell AA-inspected used cars online. The company – which delivers every car purchased straight to the buyers doorstep – claims that the customer pays the exact price confirmed on the website, taking a small fee from each deal completed. The platform sees around 90 “high-value” basket customers each month (twice as many as last year) as well as 2,000 customers applying for cars through finance per month.

Now backed by €5m after securing €3m Series B in July last year, Carspring is on the cusp of expanding to provide the same service in the area of automotive aftersales. However, its main focus will be on selling more than 200 cars a month and launching in two new EU markets.