When Charlotte Pallua co-founded topi in 2021, her goal was to revolutionise the business leasing market by building a seamless, fully digital platform.
Pallua’s vision for topi — a Berlin-based devices and services fintech co-founded with Estelle Merle — grew out of her experience at Apple, where she managed hardware subscription programmes and encountered a recurring challenge.
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She and her team wanted to partner with a fully digital leasing provider but discovered no options were meeting Apple’s expectations for a seamless, paperless process. “I saw the gap in the market at Apple because we couldn’t find a fully digital leasing provider,” Pallua explained, prompting her departure to develop a solution herself.
Bridging the gap
Topi’s platform aims to simplify and digitise the leasing process for equipment, focusing on creating a customer-centric model. In a sector where traditional players remain dominant, Pallua argues that they tend to overlook the end user’s experience. “From topi’s perspective, we always think about the customer first,” Pallua said, describing an Apple-inspired process in which the customer journey dictates the design. This approach, she suggests, sets topi apart from legacy leasing providers, who she believes have not prioritised digital transformation.
Pallua attributes the sluggish development of digital leasing in the broader business financing sector to structural inertia and the challenge of integrating complex digital technology. “It’s not easy to develop everything right. We have a big team of engineers as well,” she noted, describing topi’s engineering-heavy workforce of 35 employees, about 20 of whom are dedicated to engineering and technological innovation.
Building partnerships and funding infrastructure
Since its inception, topi has forged significant partnerships and funding arrangements to underpin its asset-backed structure. Topi’s core funding partner is Macquarie, the Australian investment bank, which co-owns an SPV (special purpose vehicle) that funds topi’s devices, securing a €50 million facility for the company. This arrangement allows topi to focus on leasing devices without holding physical assets. Pallua is also mindful of expanding topi’s funding base, with venture capital support from Index Ventures and Creandum, who have collectively invested €23 million to support the company’s growth and development efforts.
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By GlobalDataIn addition to financing arrangements, topi collaborates closely with key original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Lenovo and Apple, to support leasing options for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to reduce upfront costs. Notably, Lenovo recognises topi as one of its official financial service providers, working alongside established providers DLL and CSI.
Embedded finance and telesales
Topi has designed a flexible platform that enables embedded finance solutions and telesales options, allowing equipment providers to integrate leasing directly into their sales processes. “A sales agent can put together offers in telesales, where they send a digital checkout link to the customer,” Pallua explained. This capability allows both digital self-service and telesales-assisted leasing options, ensuring topi meets the needs of a range of clients.
Pallua sees potential to grow topi’s embedded finance model, particularly through partnerships with banks interested in offering digital leasing. Banks could use topi’s technology to manage leasing operations, whether by offering white-label solutions or utilising topi’s platform to support their own leasing products. “There are a lot of different options for us to work with banking partners,” Pallua said, suggesting that topi is open to expanding its relationship with banks, particularly those interested in a white-label solution.
Future expansion: markets and verticals
Currently, topi serves customers in Germany and Austria, where its digital leasing solutions have gained traction among major clients. The company’s roadmap includes an expansion into Benelux and Nordic countries, with an eye on the United States market after securing a stable position in Europe. While the UK remains a consideration, Pallua expressed some reservations due to regulatory and currency complexities, suggesting that it may be some time before topi takes on this market.
Topi’s growth ambitions also include expanding beyond its current focus on electronics leasing. Given the flexibility of its technology, the company plans to explore verticals such as medical equipment, robotics, and electric bikes, driven by a rising demand in these areas. Topi’s integrated platform could position the company to meet new vertical-specific needs, particularly in sectors where equipment costs can be prohibitive for SMEs.
By developing a digital-first leasing platform, topi is not only responding to a clear market need but also reshaping expectations around leasing experiences. Looking ahead, Pallua envisions topi as a significant player in digital leasing, scaling its business model internationally and diversifying into new product categories that could reshape how SMEs finance essential equipment. As Pallua’s journey from Apple to topi illustrates, the path to innovation often starts with recognising a gap in the market — and, with the right technology and vision, transforming that gap into a competitive advantage.
Topi co-founders Charlotte Pallua (CEO) and Estelle Merle (Chief Product Officer) will speak in Milan on 14 November at the 21st Leasing Life Conference on The Future of Digital Leasing: Empowering SMBs with Device-as-a-Service.
