Solving tech procurement with Sevan Marian (Episode 40)
In this episode, I sit down with Sevan Marian, founder and CEO of Fleet.
Guests
Show notes
In this episode, I sit down with Sevan Marian, founder and CEO of Fleet.
Sevan Marian is a French technology entrepreneur and investor, currently serving as Co founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fleet, a Paris based company developing an operating system for workspace equipment management. Founded in 2019, Fleet provides an integrated platform that enables companies to lease, manage and renew IT equipment and office furniture through a subscription model. The platform combines hardware leasing, insurance, support services and device management tools, supporting more than 1,000 startups, scale ups and SMBs across Europe.
Before becoming CEO in 2025, Marian held the roles of Co founder and Chief Operating Officer and later Co CEO, leading Fleet’s operational growth and product development. Prior to Fleet, he served as Managing Director at GoMore, a European mobility platform with more than two million members across several markets, and earlier held leadership roles at Jumia Group in Morocco, where he oversaw the rapid expansion of the Jumia Market marketplace.
Alongside his entrepreneurial activity, Marian is an active technology investor with stakes in companies such as Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Anduril Industries, as well as several early stage startups. He holds a Master in Management from EDHEC Business School.
In this episode
Sevan Marian, co-founder and CEO of Fleet, recounts building Jumia's North African marketplace for Rocket Internet before starting Fleet, which rents laptops to companies as a subscription and handles their whole lifecycle. He explains how Fleet stayed profitable and cash-flow positive without outside funding, why its first investor deal let employees cash out, and how it plans to grow in the US. He also shares his approach to angel investing and advice on choosing principles and co-founders.
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction and Fleet
- 3:13Building Jumia in North Africa
- 7:02Angel investing and secondaries
- 15:02How Fleet started
- 19:02Giving computers a second life
- 21:35Scaling while bootstrapped
- 29:03Why a growth private equity deal
- 33:42Letting employees cash out
- 35:58Hiring
- 37:33Expanding across markets and the US
- 40:00What's next for Fleet
- 43:20IPOs in Europe
- 44:40Advice for founders
Key facts
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.
Sevan invests in seed startups such as Formance, in small early-stage funds such as ReRail, and in pre-IPO secondaries including OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX and Anduril.
Cash flow matters more than accounting profit for a growing company.
Founders should pick two or three core principles, such as staying asset-light, and stick to them.
Europe's IPO market must become far more attractive before tech companies can list well.
Questions and answers
How did Fleet scale without funding?
By staying asset-light and refinancing rental contracts with banks so revenue comes upfront.
Why a private equity deal rather than VC?
A profitable company needs no new cash, and VCs would have pushed a different, cash-burning trajectory.
What advice for new founders?
Choose your principles, the kind of journey you want and co-founders aligned on values.