Martin Hunt, a firefighter from the age of 15 and now 26, knew firsthand the pain of a small community with a tight budget to buy fire equipment.
One day in 2023 he found himself chatting with one of his firefighters friends who asked if Hunt knew how to do better.
“When we couldn’t find anything, it became clear that we needed a streamlined, national market for expensive and difficult-to-move equipment like fire trucks,” Hunt told TechCrunch. “A few months later, I quit my job without any products or funds to build a solution.”
He worked with his university friend Araz Sengl to launch a garage, a marketplace that sells local government and public safety and commonly used specialized equipment. It automates most of what used to be manual processes, such as valuations, freight estimating, and payment solutions.
“Many of our customers are civil servants, firefighters, fleet managers and public works directors who don’t have the management bandwidth to deal with endless paperwork and logistics coordination,” said Hunt, the company’s CEO. Sengul acts as a CTO.
On Wednesday, the company announced a $13.5 million Series A led by Infinity Ventures.
Currently, according to Hunt, the fire department relies on online auction locations such as Govdeal, Facebook groups, and even categorized newspaper ads to find equipment if they are looking to buy gear they previously own.
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At the same time, cities are trying to sell old equipment and raise funds for new supplies. Hunt said many communities were unable to sell fire trucks thousands of miles away to buyers too, as it has often proven difficult to sell them.
Garage’s nationwide product platform works as follows: Sellers use garage AI tools to evaluate equipment. Next, list the products and offer them in an auction or “buy now” format. The buyer sends a message to the seller and requests immediate quotations such as warranty and cargo. Once the agreement is met, the garage handles the backend and uses AI to help coordinate delivery.
“Security is a major concern when transactions of this size often go over $100,000, especially when there are a number of con artists lurking on platforms like the Facebook Marketplace,” Hunt added.
He described the fundraising process as “catalysts,” and said he and Sengl met their lead investors after participating in YC’s 24 winter cohort. The founder raised a $4.5 million seed round with initialized capital and was later introduced to Infinity Venture.
Others of the round include Bench Strength, Wayfinder Venture and FJ Lab. The company has raised $18 million so far.
Fresh Capital is used to expand teams and markets. Hunt said the product is currently named as a client in cities such as Burlington, Vermont and South Charleston, West Virginia, and is used in all 50 states.
“We hope that by improving access to affordable mission-critical equipment, we will improve public safety in the areas where we need it most, and that the funds will be further advanced to stay in the hands of those serving our local community,” Hunt said.
This story was updated to reflect where Burlington is.
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