Polish-German startup Cardino secures €1M round, joined by Czech Depo Ventures

Prague-based Depo Ventures has announced its participation in a €1 million pre-seed round for Berlin-based Cardino, to develop its marketplace for used electric cars. The investment was co-led by Silence VC and FJ Labs.

• Founded in December 2022 by Henrik Sachs and Lukasz Pajak, Cardino offers EV owners a platform to sell their vehicles. It delivers immediate EV value estimates based on market analytics. Following this, a digital vehicle inspection procedure, powered by DriveX, allows users to inspect their vehicles, note damages, and upload photos.

• Cardino also offers dealers a range of tools to source and purchase EVs. Since its establishment, the startup has created a community of over 1,000 EV sellers and more than 100 dealers. In August, it managed nearly €4 million in GMV, witnessing a monthly growth rate of over 50%.

“With the surge in new electric car sales in the past years, they are now getting to the secondary market. We believe that our platform can revolutionize the way people transact these cars, making it the best possible experience for our users and allowing a better secondary market and circularity potential for used EVs!“

Cardino’s co-founder and CEO, Henrik Sachs, added.

• Silence VC, a global early-stage VC, investing in climate technologies, and FJ Labs, NY-based stage-agnostic investment firm that focuses on marketplaces and consumer-facing startups, co-led the current round. The round was also joined by Asymmetric Capital Partners, DEPO Ventures, Voyagers.io, Inclimo, Gaingels, and other industry experts as business angels.
• DEPO Ventures, a Prague-based fund, focusing on early-stage startups from CEE and the Baltic region. Recently, it joined €1.5 million investment for Czech-Slovak fintech startup Blockmate.
• The investment will help Cardino to build its platform for selling used electric cars.