Fleet reaches €100 million valuation in secondary private equity deal
Fleet, a French equipment leasing and device lifecycle management company founded in 2019, has announced a private equity transaction valuing the business at €100 million. Rather than a traditional venture capital round designed to finance loss-making growth, the deal is structured as a minority leveraged buyout, reflecting Fleet’s profitability and positive cash flow since inception. The investor is ISAI, a French fund investing through its expansion and private equity vehicle focused on profitable technology companies.
The transaction is notable for being entirely secondary within the leveraged buyout structure, enabling founders and employees to sell existing shares rather than raising primary capital. Around 15 employees were able to sell 100% of their vested equity, with total payouts amounting to several million euros, although exact figures were not disclosed. This approach is positioned as both a cultural and recruiting advantage for bootstrapped companies, where equity compensation can otherwise feel abstract. The deal also introduces more formal governance, including the creation of a board, and adjusts the founders’ equal ownership structure as one founder becomes less operational.
Fleet reached a nine-figure valuation starting with approximately €5,000 in initial capital, without debt or external funding, and now generates around two-thirds of its revenue outside France. The company aims to scale from roughly €30 million in revenue to €100 million, and from a €100 million valuation towards €500 million. Growth plans focus on European expansion, including Spain, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Italy, alongside faster growth in the US. The US business reportedly reached $6 million in annualised revenue within 12 months, operated from a Barcelona-based team.
Product expansion is a second growth pillar. Fleet plans to move beyond procurement, repair, and renewal into software, cybersecurity, and AI-driven IT support, potentially competing with managed service providers. The founders describe their approach as a “paradox of discipline”: maintaining strict adherence to core principles, such as avoiding inventory ownership, while remaining flexible in execution. This framing presents bootstrapping not as slower growth, but as a deliberate refusal to compromise on the company’s operating model.
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