Edward Lovett grew up within the car retail industry, with the family running high-end dealerships in the West Country, including franchises for Porsche, BMW and Ferrari. Lovett worked within the business for around 20 years, giving him a firm grounding in the trade, but it was his interest in collector car auctions and love of doing great deals that inspired the current business.

Having been a familiar face at collector car events and auctions around the world for more than 15 years, Edward Lovett had seen both the good and bad of the traditional auction world. While the excitement of bidding and the chance to see new records set gives auctions a real buzz, the logistics of the events and the high selling fees felt outdated in the digital age.

He therefore saw an opportunity to revolutionise how people buy and sell; launching Collecting Cars in the UK in 2019, then going global. Diversification into sought-after timepieces with Watch Collecting took place in 2021, and the two online platforms are the founding pillars of The Collecting Group.