Berlin-based B2B marketplace CarOnSale has raised €70 million (US$82.1 million) in a series C funding round.

The investment was led by Northzone, with participation from HV Capital, Insight Partners, Stripes, and Creandum.

CarOnSale provides a platform for professional used car trading. It offers vehicle inspections, logistics, and payment processing.

The company aims to simplify cross-border vehicle transactions for car dealers and manufacturers.

The funding will be used to expand operations across Europe.

🔗 Source: Tech.eu

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ The race to consolidate Europe’s fragmented used car B2B market

CarOnSale’s €70 million funding highlights the accelerating competition to digitize Europe’s professional used car trading sector, which has traditionally been highly fragmented.

This investment comes as established competitors like AutoProff already operate across 24 European markets with over 10,000 car dealers utilizing their services and access to 150,000+ vehicles 1.

Platforms are competing to build the largest network of dealers and inventory to create liquidity advantages, a trend observed in other marketplace industries.

Both platforms emphasize streamlining historically complex cross-border transactions through technology, with CarOnSale partnering with major manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz to digitalize their lease return auctions 2.

This consolidation trend mirrors developments in consumer-facing used car marketplaces, where companies like Motorway (UK) and heycar (Germany) have attracted significant investment to modernize traditionally offline transactions 3.

2️⃣ AI adoption becoming critical for used car marketplace success

Northzone’s investment thesis specifically highlights CarOnSale’s potential to “bring AI to an archaic industry,” signaling that artificial intelligence capabilities are becoming a key competitive differentiator [original article].

This aligns with industry projections that AI applications in the used car retail sector will generate $1.33 billion in market revenue by 2030, with 64% of businesses believing AI will enhance overall productivity 4.