How Fleet Bootstrapped to $40M Renting Laptops Before a $100M Valuation Secondary

So we are a platform for IT procurement and management. We can procure, secure and manage all your IT devices, computer, phones, tablets. We launched this in 2019, and we already, we like immediately had success. We went from 0 to 40,000,000 revenue from one country, France, to 20 countries today in Europe, but also in The U. S. We grew 60% year on year in 2024 and then 90% year on year in

2025, which is huge. And this year, I think we are around 40% growth year on year. So we are still growing a lot.

Hey, folks. My guest today is Sevan Marian. He's the cofounder and CEO of Fleet dot co, a Paris based IT device management scale up. He started in 2019 with cofounder Alexandre. He bootstrapped the company for seven straight years to a 100,000,000 valuation before taking his first outside capital in early twenty twenty six. Sevan, you're ready to take us to the top?

Yeah. Perfectly. Thank you.

Tell us what you're selling here as I share your website.

Yeah. So we are a platform for IT procurement and management. It means that we manage the entire IT lifecycle for companies everywhere in the world. So if you are a company that grows, that needs to hire people in your country, but also outside because you have people that work remotely or several offices in different countries. You can procure, secure and manage all your IT devices, computer, phones, tablets

with platform. We centralize and simplify IT management for growing companies and international companies.

Where did you come up with this idea?

Me and my co founder, we met at Rocket Internet. It's a European startup studio back in 2012. It was one of the biggest startup studio in Europe and we worked in North Of Africa. We launched a kind of Amazon for Africa called Jumia that today listed in New York Stock Exchange, Jumia Group. And we learned how to build business thanks to this experience. We went back to

Europe. We had some managing director experience in different startups and we realized that IT management was a little bit of chaos for SMBs and startups. So most of the time, SMBs start up, they were buying computers directly with Apple or on Amazon, which is quite costly first. Plus, when there is issues, when you scale, you have a lot of issues because you behave like

a traditional customer, you don't have services included. So we came up with this idea of creating this device as a service solution, Fleet, to help companies to procure or manage their IT in a monthly subscription. So instead of buying a computer for €2,000 you will rent a computer for €50 per month. This is what we do. And you have the whole service included, so guarantee platform to manage and secure your IT. We launched this

in 2019 and we immediately had success, product market fit, it grew very fast and we realized that we had a very efficient business model, so we were both profitable but we were also cash flow positive. That is very important because when you don't need working capital to grow then you can grow without external funding.

Are you comfortable assuring what you guys grew revenue to before you took your first dollar of outside capital?

Went from 0 to 40,000,000 revenue from one country, France, to 20 countries today in Europe, but also in The US. We did the LBO, so we get some capital, but it's only secondary. So me and my co founder, we sold shares, but we didn't bring money inside the company because since the beginning we are profitable and we do almost like not far from 10,000,000 EBITDA per year. So the company doesn't need outside capital. Our revenue is

almost 40,000,000 revenue annualized today. And when we did the LBO, it was around 30,000,000.

Okay. And when was it LBO?

It was six months ago.

Okay. So February 2026. Yeah. Yeah. And when most Americans hear LBO, they think like private equity, like leveraged buyout. When you use the word LBO, you you really mean a secondary. Right? You guys sold a second... Did a secondary round.

Yeah. Only secondary round. We took... So it's LBO because it's... We we brought an investor that obviously took equity of the company, a minority stake of the company, but we also took bank loan, bank debt. So yes, the definition of LBO is when you do a round with some equity, but also it includes also some debts, some traditional bank loan. Know?

How much of the 30,000,000 LBO was equity versus debt?

I think it was like two third of equity and one third of debt.

What did you finish first year revenue? Do you remember?

First year, we did, 1.5 revenue. Second year, we we did three. So we went from three to eight in, 2021. So it was post COVID, you know, you remember post COVID, it was almost a bubble now in the ecosystem. So our clients, that was a startup scale up. They were fundraising a lot of, raising a lot of capital, growing a lot, so taking a lot of computer for the new joiners. So it was a huge year

for us. And then 2022, we stabilized a little bit. And in 2023, we decreased the revenue from 15%. So we had a tough year in 2023.

How low did it go?

So a lot of companies were laying off employees, so giving back the computer to us. So it was a difficult environment. I think the hiring in the ecosystem decreased by 70%, which is huge. In this very bad market, we did only minus 15%. So it was okay. We stayed profitable, but it was a good year for us because it allowed us also to work on our product, to reinvent ourselves, to focus on what

works. At this time, we launched our first outside country in 2022 with Spain, and we realized in 2023 that Spain was working well. Internationalization for us was working well, so we refocused our effort in growing in more markets and then from 2023 to 2020 to today, 2026, we scaled a lot. So

we grew 60% year on year in 2024 and then 90% year on year in 2025, which is huge. And this year, I think we are around 40% growth year on year. So we are still growing a lot.

So when you say you were 8,000,000 peak in 2021, then 2022 you said, quote, you stabilized around maybe 8,000,000 and in 2023 you declined by 50% does that mean you went down to about 4,000,000 of revenue in 2023?

No 15, 15. So went one five. Eight in 2021 I think it was 10 in 2022 so it was we were growing but not a lot and then we went down to eight again in 2023. So hopefully we were still profitable so it was not so difficult for us but still you know it's difficult because you know what happens, know, like in startups, when you grow, everybody is happy and when you start having tough numbers, no

problem arise, no issues arise, no you have issue with people, people are not happy, you know, So we had to change, I think, almost half of the leadership team at this time, you know, and to rebuild on a new leadership team, on a new strategy. So it was not easy, you know. We had to make tough decisions.

What were you saying to those new folks you were recruiting to your leadership team who, when they said, okay, I'm ready to join, but let me see your p and l first. They see the revenue decline. They still decide to join. What were you telling them?

So we had a good story to tell. No. Like, okay. We decreased, but it was a very difficult and challenging environment. The market is going down, but we have other level to grow, including going to new markets, going also upmarket in terms of size of companies we want to target. So we had a clear strategy in mind. Also, gave equity to people, which is also a very good thing to attract talent. So when we did the

LBO, we allowed all our employees to cash out 100% of their equity, which is also a great story. So our employees cash out several million euros. We have very young employees that became rich thanks to our LBO, and it's also a great, great thing to attract talent because now when I need to attract a huge talent, I tell the story of your equity is not bullshit, people cash out and so it's free

paper, it's free money. I think what makes great founders is their ability, their courage, their boldness of making difficult decisions, especially regarding people and be very, very tough on talent density, culture inside the company, meritocracy. Because when you start letting average people inside the company and you don't make those decisions, then everybody in the team thinks that finally there is not

so much meritocracy because when they see people being average, don't get penalized for it. For So me, I think it's very important in difficult times to be able to make those decisions.

Today, how many folks are full time at the business?

We are around 50, 50 to 60 people.

February 2026, you pass 30,000,000 of revenue. You also do the 30,000,000 LBO at that time point. Did a 100% of that money go out to either early employees or founders, or did some of it stay on the company balance sheet?

No. 100% of the money went out. It was only cash out. Yeah.

That's awesome. Yeah. So you're you're telling your folks, listen, your options have real value. You don't have to wait thirty years for maybe when we IPO. So here's my second question on that. When you pass 30,000,000 of revenue in February this year, 2026, and you do the 30,000,000 LBO and you email all your employees who have some amount of options, how do you write that email so they understand how much they can sell? Can they sell 100% of their vested shares? Do you accelerate unvested shares? Like how did you structure that?

As a traditional LBO, the investors, they say that people that stays after the LBO, so that we engage for a new cycle, they shouldn't be able to cash out 100% because they want them to be skin in the game, so to reinvest almost half of their shares into the new cycle. I think it's very unfair because it means that you penalize people that stay with you. You know what I mean? Like people that leave that say,

okay, after the LBO I want to leave, they are able to cash out 100%, and people that stay, they are not able to do it. I don't think it makes sense, you know. What makes sense, I think, is to allow everyone to cash out 100%, to make everyone happy, and then the one that stays, you do a new equity plan for the next cycle. So this is exactly what we did. It was very, very appreciated by

the team. I think it's a huge mark of trust also as a founder to do this. This is also my case, know, I cash out a lot of money, I stay CEO of the company and the investors, they trust me to be reengaged for the next cycle and still motivated. So I don't know what it would be different for employees. You also tell your employees, hey guys, we are almost sure that we'll have a liquidity event in the next five years unless the company go almost bankrupt, there will be a liquidity event.

When you did the 30,000,000 raise earlier this year as you passed 30,000,000 of revenue, what valuation did you raise at?

100,000,000 valuation. I think the total amount we cash out is almost 40,000,000, like a little bit less than 30,000,000 in equity, almost 15,000,000 in debt. So, yeah, I mean, I cannot share the exact exact number, but more or less, yeah, the investors, I get, you know, one fourth of the company, something like that, 25% Some of

founders watching, they're maybe in your same shoes. They're wondering what do they have to reset their ESOP pool and if they bring in one of these growth equity investors that do a big secondary. So did you recreate like a 5%, a 10%, a 30% ESOP pool, or what's that look like?

The new pool is a 5% pool. I think it's enough at 100,000,000 valuation. The idea is to go to almost at least 300,000,000 and maybe 500,000,000 in the next five years. So I think there was a 5% pool. You are in... You you have more than enough to make to make people happy with with the money they will they will be able to make.

Let me just make sure I understand something. So let's say your first customer ever. Right? They're renting a MacBook Air 13 inch with an m three chip. Right? And you're charging them $59.90 a month. Don't you guys have to go buy the computer for 2 k?

Our contracts are twenty four or thirty six months contract, so it's not like it's not monthly. Know, the customer pay monthly, but cannot, like, after one month say, hey, don't want the computer anymore. I give it back to you, you know, because it wouldn't work as a business model, you know. You have to buy the machine and then you get a machine back. Doesn't make sense. So the fact that it's a thirty six month contract allow

us to resell the contract to a bank, you know, and the bank will pay us upfront for the total value of the contract. So we buy the computer, but we get the full value of the contract upfront, which allow us to make our margin and our profits from day one. So if the client goes bankrupt with 100 fleet computer, we already got the money for the contract and it's the bank who takes the

risk, the credit risk. We don't pre buy computers and have them in the warehouse waiting to sell them. We work directly with suppliers, so our suppliers deliver the client directly. So we don't have stock inventory risk also. So it's a very, very asset light business model, and that's why we can scale, we can double the revenue next month.

So just to confirm this, right, if someone's paying you $59 a month, time to 36 month contract, that's $2,124. You're taking that contract and selling it to a bank and the bank is wiring you $2,124 on day one. Is that right?

Yeah. Minus, their their profit margin. So they, you know, they take a 10% rate, you know, so 2,100 minus 10%. But... Yeah.

Okay. And have... How many how many times have you done that? Have you done that across 30,000 devices over the past seven years or a 100,000 devices?

Yeah. Around fifty fifty thousand, something like that.

Yeah. It's basically equipment financing. The equipment financing a 100 MacBook Airs, and your client then goes out of business. How do they go actually physically get the MacBook Air so they can make do on their collateral?

We are the supplier. We are the service provider. So so so the bank, I doesn't touch the device. And at the end of the contract,

buy back to the bank ourself fleet, buy back the computer for a very small amount of money. So then we get back the computer at the end of the contract, we refurbish the computer, and we resell it to the to the secondary market.

So if we looked at your balance sheet today, what dollars of inventory would you... Would we see you guys holding on your balance sheet that you haven't sold off to the bank? Is it in the millions?

So we have a stock of computers that we keep for fast replacement, you know, because we ensure clients in B2B, it's very important, we ensure client continuity in the use of the device, no? So if there is an issue with the computer, we don't make the client wait for a repair and get back the computer because the employee will not be able to work on the machine during this time. So we replace it. So we have a little stock to ensure the service in every country we operate, but

it's almost nothing, you know.

You mentioned you guys are very profitable. Are are we talking like 20% EBITDA margin post the LBO or are you still like 30, 40%?

Between 25 to 30. It depends. I mean, we are... I think we are more around 25 today, especially because we we hired a bunch of people to, you know, to... For the next phase of growth. But the idea is to go to 30% as soon as possible.

Yeah. The way that you guys actually make money here is, again, the $59 per month contract over thirty six months is $2,124. You then sell that off minus 10% to the bank. So you're bringing in, let's say, about $1,800. That's hopefully, though, more than what's gonna cost you to go buy the MacBook Air 13. What's the markup you typically like to make there?

Yeah. Yeah. So I cannot communicate exactly on our margin. You know, it's confidential, but basically, how do we make our margin? Of course, higher priced than the MacBook, of course, but because the client is ready to pay for financing, service, all those things, you know, so it's... We had a lot of things on top, you know. We also have a platform, a SaaS, that is included to the to the to the rent and the the platform.

So you you make money in other ways besides just marking up the rental fees?

I mean, majority of the revenue is marking up the rental field because include... I mean, the rental is is the machine, the guarantee, and the the free version of our SaaS, which is already an advanced version that allows you to have a real time monitoring of your fleet. So this is a majority of our revenue and on top of that we sell self cybersecurity solutions that

allow you to secure your device, manage remotely your device, your software and everything. It's called MDM and this is a little part of our revenue. It's around 1,000,000 ARR today.

All right, Sevan, let's wrap up here. If people want to follow your story after this interview, where can they find you online?

Yeah. So LinkedIn, LinkedIn, Sevan Marian, fleet dot co, of course, to subscribe. And if you if you wanna rent computer with us, by mail also, I can send again if you wanna reach me, Sevan, [redacted].

Guys, there you have it. You wanna rent computers instead of spending $3 on that new Apple MacBook Air, fleet.co is for you. They've done this over... With over 50,000 devices and thousands of paying customers. Sevan, thank you for taking us to the top.

Great setup. Thank you. Thank you very much.

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