How Fleet grows

Customers rent devices on 24- or 36-month contracts paid monthly with no early exit (e.g. ~EUR 50/month for a laptop). Fleet resells each contract to a bank, which pays the full contract value upfront minus ~10%. Fleet buys the device with that cash and books its margin on day one; the bank carries the credit risk if the client goes bankrupt. At contract end Fleet buys the device back from the bank for a small amount. Because growth needs no working capital, the company was cash-flow positive and bootstrapped for 7 years.

Target SMBs and startups that buy computers from Apple or Amazon at full price with no services. Instead of paying ~EUR 2,000 upfront, they rent for ~EUR 50/month, with the guarantee and the free tier of Fleet's device-management platform (real-time fleet monitoring) included. Price sits above the hardware cost because clients pay for financing and service; most revenue is the markup on the rental fee.

The rental includes a free version of the management SaaS. On top, Fleet sells a cybersecurity/MDM product that secures devices and lets IT remotely manage devices and software.

First country outside France was Spain in 2022. When the 2023 startup hiring crash cut revenue (clients laid staff off and returned laptops), Spain's traction showed international worked, so the company refocused effort on opening more markets, while also moving upmarket to larger companies. Now in 20 countries in Europe plus the US.

In the Feb 2026 LBO (~EUR 100M valuation, investor took ~25%, all money secondary), every employee could sell 100% of their equity, including those staying. Investors usually want stayers to roll ~half into the next cycle; Fleet refused that as unfair and instead created a new 5% ESOP pool for the next cycle. The founders now tell candidates 'your equity is real money' and that a liquidity event within 5 years is near-certain.

No pre-bought stock in warehouses: suppliers deliver devices directly to the client. Fleet keeps only a small stock of computers in every country it operates in for fast replacement, so a client's employee with a broken machine gets a new one immediately instead of waiting for a repair.

During the 2023 decline, the founders replaced almost half of the leadership team and rebuilt strategy. To recruit new leaders despite a falling P&L, they pitched the market context plus clear growth levers (new countries, larger customers) and gave equity. Guest advises being tough on talent density and meritocracy in hard times.

At the end of each contract Fleet buys the device back from the bank for a very small amount, refurbishes it and resells it on the secondary market.