The French start-up Fleet wants to become the best ally of the IT department by managing hardware as a service. Customers of Fleet they can rent computers and smartphones for a fixed monthly price. If there is a hardware issue, the startup handles returns and repairs.
And when it's time to renew, Fleet you can trade in old corporate laptops and smartphones for new ones. Customers can view their current fleet of devices with a single management interface.
The company offers a wide range of devices. For example, a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip and 16 GB of RAM currently costs €99,90 per month. The MacBook Air M1 starts at €54,90 per month. An iPhone 13 with 128 GB of storage will set you back €44,90 per month.
You can also find laptops from Microsoft (Surface Laptop Go, Surface Laptop 4, and Surface Pro 7), Dell computers, and even a couple of Chromebooks. When a device is nearing the end of its useful life and is being shipped back to Fleet, the company gives it to a nonprofit organization, sells it to a refurbishment company, or recycles it.
Fleet it is a start-up and has not raised any venture capital funds. But it has been growing very well, as the company is expected to generate an annual turnover of 12 million euros at the current rate.
It currently has 600 clients, including some well-known French startups such as Ankorstore, Ornikar, Sunday, Matera, Cubyn, Wemaintain, and Shine.
There are European expansions on the roadmap, starting with Spain, as many of the providers of Fleet They can now deliver throughout Europe. The company is analyzing Portugal, Italy, Germany and Belgium as future markets.
Many companies choose to purchase devices directly for their employees. But there's a big upfront cost and it means you don't have a provider who can help you in case of hardware issues.
Companies have been looking for ways to convert these large capital expenses into operating costs. For example, a business might negotiate a line of credit with its bank to purchase hardware.
And this is key to understanding the business model of Fleet. The startup negotiates directly with financial partners and leasing companies so that customers of Fleet they just have to create an account and send some documents. They can see if they can order some laptops in just a few minutes. Fleet it becomes another service provider doing the low-value, high-impact, operational work for the business.
