Start-up company Equippo benefits from huge financial injection from Japan

It has been announced that Equippo, a type of e-bay for second-hand construction vehicles, has benefited from a huge financial injection from a Japanese company.

The precise amount of funding from the Sumitomo Corporation, which belongs to Fortune’s list of top 500 corporations worldwide, has not been disclosed, but it is substantial figure, “in the millions” (the currency not specified, either).

With it, the co-founders of Equippo Michael Rohmeder (on the left in the foreground of the photograph) and Philipp Knobel (on the right in the foreground), hope to extend the company’s international operations (it already operates in 55 countries) and become the market-leader in Europe in this sector.

Years ago, the trade in second-hand construction machinery was controlled by a relatively small circle of vendors, mediators and auctioneers, who ensured prices were kept high; Equippo’s simple business plan to set up an online market place has led to this monopoly being smashed.

Since Equippo was founded in 2014, the Zug-based company has already sold a four-figure number of construction vehicles, with 200 of them currently listed for sale. By the end of the year, it is hoped this latter figure will rise to 500 or even 1,000. The expansion also means two more employees being engaged to join the current staff of 23.

Not that this funding from Sumitomo is the first Equippo has enjoyed; CHF 5 million flowed in in 2015 and 2016, too, in part from the b-to-v risk capital provider from St Gallen and VI Partners from Altendorf in the canton of Schwyz.

It is thought the second-hand construction machinery business is worth some CHF 3 billion in Europe, and CHF 100 billion worldwide.