‘It should be a right to fix your phone’: the boss of booming secondhand tech firm Back Market

Thibaud Hug de Larauze says sales at his marketplace for refurbished electronics are soaring not just because people need to save money, but because they also care about waste

Thibaud Hug de Larauze is waving his iPhone, boasting that it is more than seven years old. It works great," he says. Not what you'd expect from a tech entrepreneur heading one of France's biggest unicorn" startups - Back Market - which has raised more than $1bn to expand into 18 countries.

The chief executive of the secondhand gadget marketplace says he would rather identify as an eco-warrior than a tech guru, fighting to persuade us all to buy pre-owned phones, laptops and other devices, and repair or recycle our old ones.