A firefighter from the age of 15, Martin Hunt, now 26, first knew the pain of the small communities with strict budgets that buy firefighters.
One day in 2023 he found himself chatting with one of the firefighter’s friends who asked if Hunt knew a better way.
“When I could find nothing, it became clear that there was a need for a rational, national market for expensive, difficult to move equipment like Firetrucks,” Hunt told TechCrunch. “A few months later, I left my job without a product or funding to build the solution.”
She worked with the friend of the Alaz Sengul College and started GarageA market that sells specialized equipment commonly used in local governments and public security. It automates most of those that have been a manual process, such as estimation, goods extracts and payment solutions.
“Many of our clients are civil servants, firefighters, fleet managers and public works managers who do not have the administrative range of zone to face endless bureaucratic and logistical coordinations,” said Hunt, who is the managing director. Sengul serves as a CTO.
The company announced on Wednesday a series of $ 13.5 million, led by Infinity Ventures.
At the moment, Hunt said the fire departments depend on online auctions, such as govdeals, facebook groups or even even classified newspaper ads, to find equipment if they try to buy tools that belong to the past.
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At the same time, cities are trying to sell old equipment to raise money for new supplies. Hunt said that many communities could not sell nationally because, because the sale of a fire truck to a buyer thousands of miles often proved to be harsh accounting.
The Garage Nationwide product platform works so: Sellers use Garage’s AI tool to appreciate their equipment. It then lists the product, offering either auction or “market now” format. Buyers Message the seller, asking for immediate excerpts for things such as warranty and load. After a deal, Garage handles the backend and uses AI to help coordinate delivery.
“With transactions of this size, often more than $ 100,000, security is an important concern, especially with the number of scammers hiding on platforms like Facebook Marketplace,” Hunt added.
He described the process of raising funds as “catalytic”, and said that they met with their head investors together with Sengul after their participation in the YC winter 24 coir. The founders set a $ 4.5 million seed round with initialized capital, then after being introduced to Infinity Ventures.
Others in the round include Benchstrenge, Wayfinder Ventures and FJ Labs. The company has raised $ 18 million to date.
The fresh capital will be used to expand the team and the market. Hunt said that the product is currently used in all 50 states, calling cities such as Burlington, Vermont and South Charleston, western Virginia, as customers.
“We hope that improving access to financially affordable critical equipment improves public security in the areas that need it most, while allowing funds to move further and remain in the hands of those who serve our local communities,” Hunt said.
This story was informed to reflect where Burlington is.
