Back Market bets EU Right to Repair makes refurb mainstream: €3.5B GMV, profitable

Back Market is an online marketplace for refurbished smartphones, laptops and other electronics, where vetted refurbishers sell graded, warrantied 'renewed' devices in 17 markets.

That regulation plus shifting culture would make refurbished electronics a mainstream first choice: graded, warrantied 'renewed' devices, not a used-good bargain bin.

€450M Series E in January 2022 led by Sprints Capital; Tech.eu reported over $1B raised since 2017.

Founded in Paris in 2014 by Thibaud Hug de Larauze and co-founders, Back Market launched as a marketplace for refurbished electronics when 'renewed' phones were a niche of grey-market sellers. Its bet: trust and regulation would turn refurbished into the first choice for tech purchases, the way second-hand cars became mainstream in the US.

Back Market expanded to 16 countries by early 2022 with 600+ staff, raised €450M in January 2022 led by Sprints Capital, and kept pushing policy — backing France's anti-waste law and repairability index and later campaigning for EU rules. The EU's Right to Repair directive (2024/1799) entered into force in July 2024, obliging manufacturers to repair goods and requiring member states to apply the new repair rules from 2026.

The bet is landing: 2025 GMV passed €3.5 billion (+32%), customers reached 17 million across 17 markets, and Back Market hit global EBITDA profitability in 2025 after reaching it in Europe in 2024 — as the EU directive it lobbied for comes into application.

Back Market bet that regulation, not just price, would make refurbished electronics a mainstream category.

It invested in the policy agenda early — repairability indexes and the EU directive — so the rules it lobbied for became the demand driver.

Trust infrastructure (grading, warranties, seller vetting) is the moat; the directive adds official legitimacy and spare-parts supply.

Profitability after a decade shows the category needed the regulatory push to cross from niche to consumer default.

Lobby the rulebook you plan to win under: Back Market helped build the repair agenda, then scaled a trust-first marketplace the directive legitimizes — regulation turns a niche into a default.

As of March 2026 Back Market is scaling profitably: more than €3.5B GMV in 2025 (+32%), 17 million customers in 17 markets, and global EBITDA profitability in 2025 with a 35% EBITDA margin in France. The EU Right to Repair directive enters application in member states in 2026, and Back Market continues to campaign for UK and US repair rules; its Fixfest 2025 keynote cited 10 million customers as proof that refurbished and repairable devices are commercially viable.