Berlin-based Auto1 is a pan-European online marketplace for used cars. It values and buys used cars from individuals, dealerships, and manufacturers — then sells them for a profit to dealerships. It's worth an estimated $3bn.

Used cars are a huge market, with around 39m cars sold every year in Europe (compared to 17m new). Within the market, Auto1 is a giant. The company has taken in €1bn from Japanese conglomerate Softbank amongst others, and since launching in 2012 has expanded into more than 30 countries. It says it is now trading with more than 35,000 professional partners and selling more than 40,000 cars per month.

But watch out, because there are rivals. Cazoo, the brainchild of Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman, raised €60m pre-launch to sell second-hand cars direct to consumers in 2019. It’s a slightly different model, as it’s selling to consumers not dealers, but still a potential threat as market dynamics in this space evolve swiftly.

Other rivals to Auto1 include Emil Frey and AVAG Holding. There is a torrid history of other used car platforms coming crashing down: notably Beepi. Watch out as well for business cycle vulnerability, in a recession big-ticket items like cars are often the first purchases consumers will put off taking.

Forto is a digital freight-forwarder based in Berlin. It provides data-driven technology solutions and services available to the logistics industry, to help empower people to make better business decisions.

Since its launch in 2016, Forto has raised a total of €333m in funding; its latest funding round – led by SoftBank, Northzone, Citi Ventures, Cherry Ventures, G Squared and Unbound – secured it with $240m. Following a late VC funding round in June 2021, it became a unicorn – with an approximate valuation of €1.1bn.

The raised capital will allow Forto to persist in its ambition to make global trade more sustainable. With around 50% of Forto’s customer base using the company’s carbon-offsetting offer, Forto has applied the '1+1 Approach'. This system doubles the CO2 compensation of every customer to progress towards more climate-positive transports.