Munich Startup: Who are you and what does Truckoo do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Julia Unützer, Truckoo: My name is Julia Unützer, and I founded the startup truckoo.com together with Max Füchsl. After many years of experience in management consulting, both of us working at various ventures in Berlin and Sydney, and my co-founder's long-standing experience in the commercial vehicle industry, our team is building the first digital infrastructure for the trade in commercial vehiclesWe met very early on, inevitably, since we have the same parents. We're siblings!
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Julia Unützer: To understand our approach, we need to take a closer look at the commercial vehicle trade. Commercial vehicles aren't built for simple mobility, but rather are designed for many specific applications and for small or large loads. A truck isn't a car – and thus, trade in our industry works fundamentally differently. Local dealers buy the vehicles from local companies and initially store them on their yard. They then seek out export customers via advertising portals like mobile.de. This is a very reactive approach with very high acquisition costs, a high risk of price erosion, and long downtimes and maintenance costs.
The fundamental problem is the matching between customer and vehicle via existing advertising portals, for the following reasons: growing customer demands, a lack of transparency regarding the actual vehicle conditions, time-consuming searches, and customers having to travel up to 2,000 km to find potential vehicles.
Truckoo uses workshops as partners
At Truckoo, we're pursuing a new approach with workshops as partners. Workshops serve as lead generators for purchasing and sales within the Truckoo network.
Firstly, our now over 120 workshops offer their customers purchasing points. There, the vehicle is inspected at the garage and offered in real time via our platform to our trading partners in 23 countries. The offer is transparent and guaranteed by Truckoo. The dealers negotiate with the end customer via our platform until a price is agreed. We purchase immediately and guarantee the entire process, from deregistration to handover and document handling.
Secondly, our workshops are digitally connected to us and provide us with their customers' search queries daily. We are the organizer and infrastructure, and the reliable partner for all parties.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Julia Unützer: Then that was probably a bit awkwardly worded. Current trade is reactive and dependent on existing advertising portals like mobile.de, and their reach is severely limited. Truckoo is digital truck trade 4.0 – based on an international network of workshops as active lead generators in buying and selling, and a reliable infrastructure that makes active trade possible in the first place.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Julia UnützerPoint 1: Obviously, the search for a tech architect right at the beginning of Truckoo. It's almost utopian, but we actually found a highly experienced tech architect who was willing to lend a hand and built an MVP for a small fee. Our MVP is still our company's clear USP by today's standards and has essentially changed very little.
Early internationalization
Point 2: It was clear to us early on that the vehicle sales would have to be international. The secondary market for certain vehicle configurations is often abroad. We are already active in 12 languages. Other startups take such a step after one to two years – we had to build the necessary infrastructure early on to accommodate this growth.
Point 3: We started during the first phase of the coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020. Our current partners were busy with other decisions at the time. Looking back, the lockdowns and the closure of international borders were a welcome start for us. The coronavirus pandemic revealed that the industry was facing major change.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Julia Unützer: We currently have over 120 German workshops active as partners in our network. We are growing steadily and will accelerate this internationally from mid-2022. We are building a nationwide network and making the resulting network effect tangible for every participating workshop. Technology is growing rapidly, and we can already demonstrate to our industry what digitalization means to us. One thing is clear: our vision is full—and our roadmap is well-defined. From 2026, we will no longer be a startup—from that point on, we will be the standard in our industry.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Julia Unützer: There are few cities with a startup community that makes their own online startup magazine possible. Thanks to Munich Startup for this work! In Munich, many high-performing individuals see the alternative of working at a startup as a source of new opportunities. We appreciate that.
Munich Startup: Car or bicycle?'
Julia Unützer: Absolutely: a bicycle! The intelligent 1/5 hp mobility version with low energy consumption, yet still faster in city traffic.
