Ep 5: Lessons from Finalrentals £370k Pre-Seed Round
Ammar’s Fundraising Journey
Ammar Akhtar is the Founder and CEO of Finalrentals, based in Cardiff, UK. A car rental brand and a digital eco system, currently operating in 32 countries and expanding quickly. In 2023 alone, Finalrentals has expanded to 14 countries under Ammar’s leadership.
The problem: around 56% of all global car rentals are provided by local car hire companies. Local car hire companies are often recognised for their personal customer service and their local knowledge. However, they lack the resource and expertise to invest in digital advertising or technology platforms to grow sales or to operate efficiently like global rental car companies (such as Hertz). That represents a $54 billion market opportunity (as there are 56,883 local car companies globally).
The solution: Finalrentals gives local car companies access to three tools to accelerate sales and optimise their business performance:
an online booking platform, which is directly connected to the largest global websites where customers search for car rentals (Expedia, Kayak etc.)
a cloud-based dashboard to manage all bookings efficiently; and
an online system offering extras including insurance to boost customer transaction value.
Ammar and his team closed a £370,000 pre-seed in October 2022 by taking advantage of the UK’s SEIS/EIS investment scheme, and we’re discussing the ins and outs of their round on the latest episode of The Raise.
In this episode, we cover:
[01:50] About Ammar and why he started Finalrentals
[04:18] How has travelling shaped your joruney?
[08:08] What are the SEIS/EIS schemes and how did they help you to close the round
[12:25] How do the start-ups benefit from these schemes?
[17:14] How did you educate investors who were unaware of the schemes about SEIS and EIS?
[22:41] How did you build your investor pipeline to 5-10 calls a week?
[28:38] What questions were investors asking again and again?
[35:00] How did you drive investors down the conversation funnel?
[39:42] What were the key numbers investors wanted to know?
[42:52] What difficulties did you face and how did you overcome them?
[45:53] How did using SeedLegals help you to tie up the round?
[47:45] If you could go back and do it again, would you do anything differently?
Some takeaways:
For Founders raising 💰
Ammar started running his business with his own money and ran out of funds in 11 months by spending purely on paid ads (which wasn't sustainable). While paid channels are important, look for opportunities to build your audience organically.
SEIS/EIS is a tax scheme that is run in the UK that incentivises Angel investors to back start-ups by minimising their risk. Many investors are unaware that these schemes exist, so it's your duty as a founder to make them aware.
Don't expect people to write you a check after a call or two, take the time to build a relationship with them and work your way towards being able to pitch (especially with Angel investors).
If someone has the money and they don't want to invest in you, they don't understand the business. Make it as simple as possible so they're clear on how it works, how you make money and how quickly you believe the business can grow.
You should not only have your numbers at your fingertips but also know what is driving your revenue. Investors are not just interested in the metrics, but they want to know if you and your team are on top of them.
For aspiring founders 🤩
Travel can be a huge part of building your business. If you're in a position to, it's wise to consider going to other countries for an accelerator, or for an investment opportunity.
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, and YouTube.
Where to find Ammar Akhtar:
Where to find Jade Buffong:
• LinkedIn | Newsletter
Lightning-round answers:
Where can founders go to get SEIS/EIS information?
The Gov.uk website and SeedLegals are both great resources for this. Use them to your advantage!
Top 3x books founders (or aspiring founders) should read.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice by Matthew Syed
What up and coming founders do you recommend we keep an eye on?
Kailash Manohara from Spatialcortex