A Munich company which has brought e-commerce savvy to the car industry last week topped Sifted’s DACH & CEE leaderboard for the second year in a row.
The ranking — which covers 25 countries, from Germany to Ukraine — calculates the 100 fastest-growing companies in the region using a two-year revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Car subscription service Finn came highest in this ranking in 2024 with its 697% CAGR outpacing rivals. This year, Finn topped the leaderboard with a 1,078% CAGR — growing its revenue from €3.2m to €125.4m to €444.3m between 2022 and 2024.
According to Finn, the growth has been driven by increased B2B demand, stronger interest in EVs and improved vehicle availability as supply chain constraints eased. Not trying to take on many markets at once was also key, says Maximilian Wühr, its 30 year-old CEO and cofounder. “Close to 100% of our revenue is in Germany and it’s this focus that explains why we’ve grown so strongly. The more focus you have, the easier it is to produce results.”
Finn customers can choose from a range of fossil fuel and electric vehicles from over 30 car manufacturers — from Alfa Romeo to Volkswagen — and monthly subscriptions cover insurance, maintenance, registration and taxes (but not fuel or charging).
Customers can go to checkout in less than five minutes, Wühr says, after which Finn delivers the cars to customer doorsteps. “This simplicity and transparency are often not available in the traditional leasing or rental world,” Wühr says.
Some 80k Finn cars have hit the streets since the company was set up in 2019. In February this year, Finn received a €1bn credit line —the largest debt deal so far in Europe this year — from investment firms Citi and Jefferies to expand its fleet. The company has previously raised €250m in equity funding.
The 40s demographic
The typical Finn customer, perhaps unexpectedly, is “not someone in their 20s or 30s but rather someone in their 40s.”
Wühr explains: “It might seem strange to rent a car when you have two kids already. But think about it: in a life where people don’t want to commit to something big, because you don’t know what your situation will look like in the future, you’re buying freedom. Why should anyone take a risk and make a long-term commitment to something?”
A tailwind for Finn’s growth are customers who are curious to try electric vehicles (EVs) but are scared to take the plunge and buy. “We’re lucky to be in an industry where there is a lot of change happening,” Wühr says. EVs make up around 35% of the Finn fleet and the company wants that to be 80% by 2028.
Finn also has a growing B2B business, where companies offer their employees up to 40% off an electric car subscription.
Finn uses generative AI to improve some of its processes, but doesn’t use the tech “for large business decisions”. Instead, the company’s AI chatbot may recommend a follow-up model for customers. “We’re all in the infancy of how AI will look in three to five years — the infrastructure for using LLMs at scale doesn’t exist yet.”
But nevertheless, the CEO expects AI will wreak havoc on some businesses’ bottom line. “For the first time in ages I’m grateful not to be a software company because the cost of developing software will decrease significantly,” he says.
Wühr’s also relieved not to be thinking about US market entry this year, calling it “serendipitous” given the uncertainty over US president Donald Trump’s tariffs on European goods — a threat that is stoking worries that Germany’s stagnant economy will face more economic pain this year. “The guy is not the most rational decision maker,” Wühr says.
Listen to your mum
Asked how his company avoided the pitfalls of some other big online car players of recent times — like Cazoo in the UK, for example, which went into administration in May 2024 — Wühr reiterates the wisdom of doing less.
“We have a totally different philosophy [than Cazoo] when it comes to capital expenditure. They had their own delivery trucks; they did refurbishments and other services. We simply focused on creating the digital face for the customer. The logistics and other operations are all areas where there are established players already, so we try to concentrate on what we can do best.”
And as far as spending goes, maybe “don’t sponsor [several] Premier League football teams at once”, Wuhr adds, nodding to Cazoo’s vast sponsorship strategy (it also had partnerships with football teams in Spain and France, and the company was involved in horse racing, darts, snooker and cricket).
Finally, some free advice from the founder who topped Sifted’s 2024 and 2025 rankings: listen to your mother. “We received a four-star review from her once,” says Wühr. “She knocked a star off because it took too long to reach one of our customer care operators. I was like ‘yeah, you could’ve called me’. [But] I appreciated that feedback.”
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/how-car-subscription-service-finn-zoomed-to-top-of-sifteds-dach-cee-leaderboard/
