CarOnSale

The journey of CarOnSale began with a vision to transform the B2B used car market, an industry ripe for disruption. Oguz Ozguler, whose family had been in the used car dealership business since the 1970s, experienced the inherent challenges and limitations of the traditional trade firsthand. He envisioned a digital marketplace as early as 2012 that could transcend local network boundaries and bring efficiency and transparency to the process. After initial setbacks, a pivotal meeting through a childhood friend brought Oguz together with Tom Krueger and Fabian Roth. Tom, with his background in investment banking, private equity, and management consulting at Boston Consulting Group, brought strategic and financial acumen. Fabian, a tech enthusiast who had honed his skills at the Mercedes research center in Silicon Valley, provided the engineering prowess. United by a shared entrepreneurial drive, they co-founded CarOnSale in 2018, aiming to tap into Europe's massive €450 billion B2B used car market.

From the outset, their strategy was clear: partner with dealerships, not compete against them. They focused on developing a technology-driven, asset-light platform to empower dealers, giving them access to broader markets and the ability to capitalize on European price discrepancies. The founding team was later joined by Max Schilling in 2019, who brought his expertise in private equity and automotive strategies from Bain & Company. The initial platform code, developed by Fabian, still forms the technological backbone of the company. Starting in a tech hub in Nuremberg, the team celebrated their first major deals and began a rapid expansion. Today, CarOnSale stands as a leading pan-European B2B used car marketplace, particularly dominant in Germany's dealer-to-dealer sector. With revenue doubling annually and user numbers tripling across more than 20 EU markets, the company's growth has been swift. Their advanced platform, leveraging data and AI, offers end-to-end solutions, including price algorithms, guaranteed pricing, financing, and fulfillment services, ensuring a seamless and efficient trading experience for a network of over 40,000 buyers.