He joined a fire department as a volunteer at 15, left Goldman Sachs to build a $225 million used fire truck marketplace targeting a $1 trillion market

Martin Hunt joined a volunteer fire department at the age of 15, long before he became a startup founder. Years later, after working at Goldman Sachs, he left Wall Street to build a digital marketplace for used fire trucks and heavy equipment, an industry he had experienced first-hand as a firefighter.

Now 27, Hunt has built Garage with co-founder Alaz Sengul into an AI-powered marketplace connecting sellers and buyers of heavy equipment across the US. The startup has raised $41 million in a Series B funding round led by Invus Opportunities, taking its total funding to $60 million. The company is valued at $225 million, Fortune reported, citing the company.

Garage is targeting a secondary heavy-equipment market estimated to be worth $1 trillion. It plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate hiring and expand into new categories, including public works and sanitation, according to its announcement distributed by PR Newswire.


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How Martin Hunt's experience as a firefighter inspired Garage

Hunt's idea for Garage emerged from a problem he encountered while serving in the volunteer fire service in northern Delaware, outside Philadelphia. Along with fighting fires, he eventually took on the responsibility of selling older fire trucks when his department replaced them.

Finding buyers was difficult. Departments often need to sell their existing fire engines to help finance new ones, but the process can involve contacting other departments across the country or putting the vehicles up for local auctions. Equipment that could still be useful to another community can end up selling for little more than scrap value.

The problem became particularly significant when the fire engine that had taken Hunt to his first fire was put up for sale by his hometown department last year. The department's board expected to receive $30,000, but the vehicle sold for $125,000 within days through Garage, Hunt told Fortune.

Before founding the company, Hunt worked as a firefighter and emergency medical technician, studied at Columbia University and later joined Goldman Sachs. In late 2023, a fellow firefighter contacted him seeking a better way to procure equipment. That experience prompted Hunt to leave Wall Street and build a digital marketplace for the industry.

He teamed up with software developer Alaz Sengul, who became Garage's chief technology officer, to develop the platform.

Why Garage is targeting a $1 trillion heavy-equipment market

The market for used heavy-duty assets remains difficult to navigate, particularly for local governments and essential service providers that need to buy or sell equipment such as fire trucks and specialised machinery.

The process is often labour-intensive, opaque and dependent on traditional methods, according to the company. Garage aims to connect buyers and sellers through a digital marketplace, allowing equipment to be traded beyond local markets.

Its AI-powered platform is designed to simplify transactions and reduce the time involved in buying and selling used machinery, a process that can otherwise take months.

Garage crosses $100 million in annual platform sales

Garage said it has crossed $100 million in annual platform sales and recorded more than 400% year-on-year growth. It has also become the largest source of used fire trucks in the US, according to the company.

Bryan Kim, partner at Invus Opportunities, cited the company's ability to reach the $100 million annual sales milestone without employing logistics staff as evidence of the efficiency of its AI-driven marketplace.

Kim said the platform was changing how local governments and private operators across the US procure essential heavy equipment.

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How the marketplace can help communities recover equipment value

The platform's potential impact is illustrated by a transaction involving the Duxbury Fire Department in Massachusetts. Fire Chief Rob Reardon said the department sold a fire truck that was nearly 40 years old for close to $40,000 through Garage.

Reardon said the vehicle might otherwise have fetched little more than its scrap value through conventional channels. The proceeds were put towards the cost of future firefighting equipment, helping the department save money for the community.

Garage is now looking to extend this model beyond fire trucks into other heavy-duty equipment categories, including public works and sanitation.