Cardiff-based car rental tech firm Final Rentals is the only Welsh venture to be identified as one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-ups and scale-ups. The company, which operates a franchise model connecting independent local car rental operators with international customers and online travel platforms, is ranked 137th in this year’s Sifted 250.
Over the assessed period, Final Rentals, which was founded in 2019, achieved a two-year compound annual growth rate of 177.17% based on verified financial data. The business saw its revenues rise from £168,000 in its financial year to the end of March 2024 to £505,000 in the year to the end of March 2025. For its last financial year, revenues grew again to £1.39m.
International expansion drives growth
Much of that growth came from international expansion. In the year to March 2025, it signed 19 new partner agreements, up from four in the previous year. Sixteen of those were in countries where it had not previously operated: Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, the USA, Jordan, Georgia, Argentina, Bonaire, Romania, Mexico, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Cyprus, Switzerland and Iceland.
That took Final Rentals from 16 to 32 countries in 12 months and has since grown further to more than 65 countries worldwide.
Founder's pride and ambition
On making this year’s Sifted 250, Final Rentals founder and chief executive Ammar Akhtar said: “I searched the report for ‘Cardiff’ and got one result. Us. I’m proud of that dot on the map, but I don’t want it to be lonely. Wales has the talent to fill that map, and next year I want to search the list and lose count.”
The Sifted 250 requires companies to support their reported revenue with signed financial documentation, rather than forecasts or projected revenue. Companies must also generate the majority of their revenue from proprietary technology.
Mr Akhtar said: “Sifted doesn’t count promises. You put your signed accounts on the table and compete with the best companies in Europe on real revenue. That’s exactly the test we wanted. Our growth comes from one idea: independent rental operators deserve the same technology and global distribution as the giants.”
IP-backed loan and future investment
Final Rentals relocated from Dubai to Wales in 2022. The business has also become the first in Wales to secure a NatWest IP-backed loan. The new funding proposition enables eligible high-growth businesses to borrow against the value of their intellectual property, with specialist IP valuation company Inngot, which is based in Swansea, supporting the assessment and valuation of qualifying assets.
As the business has grown, it has increasingly looked beyond traditional equity funding to support its expansion. It will use the six-figure loan to support its continued investment in AI and technology.
Mr Akhtar said: “As the business was growing, we reached a point where, going into our fourth funding round, debt funding was a better and wiser choice to fuel our growth. The good thing is you don’t actually give away equity, so you can unlock value from something you’ve already built without giving up part of the business. It gives us the capital to keep investing in our technology, which in turn creates more IP and more value. I think it’s a very clever way of fundraising.”
