A firefighter since age 15, Martin Hunt, now 26, knew firsthand the pain of small communities with tight budgets buying fire equipment.
One day in 2023, he found himself chatting with one of his firefighter friends who’d asked if Hunt knew of a better way.
“When I couldn’t find anything, it became clear that there was a need for a streamlined, nationwide marketplace for expensive, hard-to-move equipment like firetrucks,” Hunt told TechCrunch. “A few months later, I left my job with no product or funding to build the solution.”
He teamed up with college friend Alaz Sengul and launched Garage, a marketplace that sells specialized equipment commonly used in local governments and public safety. It automates most of what used to be a manual process, such as appraisal, freight quotes, and payment solutions.
“Many of our customers are civil servants, firefighters, fleet managers, and public work directors who don’t have the administrative bandwidth to deal with endless paperwork and logistical coordination,” Hunt, who is the company’s CEO, said. Sengul serves as CTO.
The company announced on Wednesday a $13.5 million Series A led by Infinity Ventures.
Right now, Hunt said, fire departments depend on online auction places like GovDeals, Facebook groups, or even, still, classified newspaper ads, to find equipment if they are looking to buy previously owned gear.
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At the same time, cities are trying to sell old equipment to raise money for new supplies. Hunt said many communities couldn’t sell nationwide, either, because selling a fire truck to a buyer thousands of miles away often proved hard logistically.
Garage’s nationwide product platform works like this: Sellers use Garage’s AI tool to appraise their equipment. Then, it lists the product, offering either an auction or “buy now” format. Buyers message the seller, requesting instant quotes for things like warranty and freight. After an agreement is met, Garage handles the backend and uses AI to help coordinate the delivery.
“With transactions of this size, often times greater than $100,000, security is a major concern, espec …