Sevan Marian
Podcast appearances as guest
Solving tech procurement with Sevan Marian (Episode 40)
In this episode, I sit down with Sevan Marian, founder and CEO of Fleet.
On the podcast
Sevan joined Rocket Internet in 2012 to build Jumia's marketplace in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, growing the team from one to 100 people in three years; there he met his Fleet co-founder, Alex.
Fleet launched in early 2019; companies rent computers for about 50 euros a month instead of paying around 2,000 euros, with maintenance, support and renewal included.
About 80% of computers returned to Fleet are refurbished and resold, and about 20% are donated, for example to Ukrainian schools.
Fleet was bootstrapped from 2,500 euros to a 100 million euro valuation in six years without external funding or debt.
Fleet's first investor is ISAI Expansion, in a private-equity-style deal that required no new cash.
Fleet has been profitable and cash-flow positive since day one; it holds no stock, as suppliers ship directly, and sells its rental contracts to banks, which carry the credit risk.
Fleet had about 30 million euros in revenue at the time of the deal and aims for 100 million in revenue and a 500 million valuation within four years.
In the deal, Fleet's employees and some former employees cashed out all of their shares, worth several million euros.
Fleet runs sales from a Barcelona hub, earns revenue in more than ten European countries, and reached about 6 million in annualised US revenue within 12 months.
Fleet plans to grow in the US, make acquisitions and become a managed IT partner that automates employee onboarding and device security.