Every car owner needs to buy new tires regularly: when the tread is no longer deep enough, the tires are too old, or the curb has been in the way. An alternative to expensive new tires are good used tires. The Munich startup Orbix sells used car tires and answered our seven questions.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your services!
Orbix GmbH was founded by Jürgen Benzinger (46), Sebastian Förster (30), David Halko (34), and Thomas Theinert (28). We all know each other from our former employer in the automotive industry. There, we met not only professionally, but also personally. The chemistry was right, so together we developed our business idea and took the step of founding a company. We have www.orbix.de the first central and innovative transaction platform for the marketing of used Wheels, tires and rims developed.
Nearly 30 million used tires are stored in German car dealerships, tire dealers, and leasing companies. Used doesn't mean old. The items on our website are almost like new. A new tire is delivered with a tread depth of approximately 8 millimeters. The tires on our site have between 6 and 7 millimeters. This saves the customer up to 70 percent. Why do we do this? Because the environment is important to us! Up to 40 raw materials are used in the production of a new tire – let's not even talk about how harmful the manufacturing process is. The tires that our partners on www.orbix.de offer are of top quality. The customer saves money and contributes a small part to protecting the environment by reusing or reusing the product.
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Really? Before entering the market, we looked for providers with a similar idea – and didn't find any. A central transaction platform for used wheels, tires, and rims didn't exist before us. That's also what's so exciting about our business: We can do pioneering work and operate in a field where no one else has left their mark. That might be a bit exhausting at times. But anyone can be boring.
Market volume of over 200 million euros
3. What are the three main ingredients for your recipe for success?
Nobody in our company is watching the clock, and everyone is passionate about the concept. The model can only work if we all give 100 percent. But our successful concept is like Grandma's secret ingredients for the family apple pie: top secret! 😉
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
As a Munich-based company, we'd rather "drop our pants" than "put our money where our mouth is"! We're targeting a 25 percent market share this year. Experts estimate that there are approximately 30 million used wheels, tires, and rims in stock at dealers in Germany. That represents a market volume of over 200 million euros. We're certainly very satisfied so far.
“Munich is ideal for us simply because of its geographical location”
5. What does Munich mean to you?
Our four founders come from four different regions in Germany. But all of them eventually ended up in the most beautiful city in the world. Here, we enjoy the Bavarian mentality; you don't sit in a meeting for what feels like an eternity. In Munich, we get things done. Of course, the proximity to two of the largest car manufacturers, BMW and Audi, is also very important to us. Even if that wasn't the deciding factor when we chose Munich. We no longer operate solely in Germany. We move extensively throughout Europe. And Munich is ideal for us, simply because of its geographical location. Oh, and by the way, some of us are also FC Bayern fans… So, all in all, a great fit!
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
We definitely won't fail! Business is going great, and the response from our partners and customers is top-notch. But the next unicorn? It might be a bit presumptuous to claim that. We'll continue as we have been. We're setting ourselves solid goals and moving forward step by step.
7. Isar or English Garden?
Clearly, the Isar! It only flows in one direction—forward! 😉 We at Orbix want to take a leaf out of that book.
