The Exit
Matt Wright sold Cars4Us parent company MCT Automotive Group to Toyota Tsusho Corporation for $120 million earlier this year. He founded the Brisbane-based used-car marketplace in 2019 and scaled it to $500 million in revenue over six years. The business grew from $182 million to $356 million in revenue in two years before the sale.
Toyota's acquisition was an 18-month process with multiple parties at the table. The deal represents a mid-market strategic sale to a global automotive group, not a venture-backed exit.
What He Is Doing Next
Wright is investing $3 million total: three founders will each receive $1 million in equity investment plus a year of mentorship. One founder each in Australia, the UK, and the US. The initiative is called Founder Finds Future.
Wright is 33. He started as a backpacker, built Cars4Us during COVID-19 from Eagle Farm, and exited in six years.
What He Learned
"You can't outsource caring. No one's going to want it more than you. You set the pace," Wright says. "We took the business from $182 million to $356 million in two years, and the only reason that happened is because we obsessed over the numbers every single day. There's no clever trick to it. You just have to be in it. And you have to hire people who are in it with you."
Context for Sales Teams
For founders considering exit strategy: Wright's sale shows the strategic acquisition path for operational businesses with real revenue. $120 million on $500 million revenue suggests a 0.24x revenue multiple, typical for capital-intensive automotive retail versus SaaS multiples.
The 18-month sale process with multiple parties is standard for deals of this size. For sales leaders at startups eyeing exits: your numbers matter more than your pitch when strategic buyers are at the table.
No funding history or cap table details are public, so founder equity retention at exit is unknown. The investment initiative suggests Wright retained meaningful equity through the sale.