Used car marketplace Motorway takes out £25m loan after losses widen
Motorway has agreed a fresh £25m loan after the online car marketplace reported widening losses.
The London-based tech firm, which hit a valuation of over $1bn in a 2021 funding round, said it secured the loan one day before Christmas Eve, with £15m having already been drawn down by the end of the year.
The loan is interest-only for the first two years, Motorway said, with repayments commencing thereafter over a period of 30 months.
It comes as Motorway reported a pre-tax loss of £37.3m in 2024, a jump of 17.4 per cent on the previous year, despite revenue growing 8.9 per cent to £66.4m over the period.
The rising loss “reflects the strategic decision to build the infrastructure needed to support sustainable long-term growth,” Motorway said in a statement filed to Companies House, adding that it remained committed to reaching profitability.
“Following a period of rapid scale in prior years, we deliberately focused on strengthening the foundations of the business to support the next stage of growth,” said Motorway chief executive and co-founder Tom Leathes.
“This meant prioritising platform stability, operational resilience and dealer infrastructure rather than short term financial performance.”
Leathes said Motorway’s bespoke payment platform, Motorway Pay, was a key area of investment for the business, having demonstrated early success with more than 2,000 dealers having already signed up.
Motorway’s expansion plans
Founded in 2016, Motorway operates a used car marketplace serving both buyers and sellers and counts the likes of BMW and venture capital firms Index Ventures and ICONIQ Growth among its largest shareholders.
More than half a million cars have been sold on the firm’s platform, with a gross merchandise value of £2.2bn achieved in 2024.
In 2023, Motorway acquired vehicle provenance check provider Total Car Check for an undisclosed fee. Total Car Check owners received over one million shares in Motorway as part of the deal, a stake which is thought to be worth just under £10 million.
Speaking to Morning Wire‘s UK Editor Jon Robinson on an episode of Boardroom Uncovered, Leathes opened up about the chances of Motorway going public on the London Stock Exchange.
The main market has come under pressure in recent years following a number of high profile exits and a fall in the number of companies completing IPOs.
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