Final Rentals Named the Only Welsh Company in the 2026 Sifted 250
October 6th 2026
Written by Jean Genevieve Final Rentals, the car rental technology company headquartered in Cardiff, is the only Welsh company in the 2026 Sifted 250, the annual ranking of Europe’s fastest growing startups and scaleups. It placed 137th in Europe on two year revenue growth of 177.17%, measured against verified financial data, Cardiff Life reported on 2 October 2026.
Final Rentals qualified on its platform, including BLADE, its AI powered booking engine. Founder and chief executive Ammar Akhtar described the ranking as “exactly the test we wanted.”
Key facts
Company: Final Rentals, headquartered in Cardiff, Wales
Recognition: 2026 Sifted 250, Europe’s fastest growing startups and scaleups
Rank: 137th in Europe
Growth: 177.17% two year revenue growth, measured against verified financial data
Welsh representation: the only company headquartered in Wales on the list
Qualified on: its platform, including BLADE, its AI powered booking engine
Source: Cardiff Life, 2 October 2026
Final Rentals ranks 137th on 177.17% revenue growth
The Sifted 250 ranks startups and scaleups by revenue growth, and Final Rentals sits 137th of 250. The 177.17% figure covers two year revenue growth, measured across the last three financial years.
Cardiff Life reported that Final Rentals is the only business in Wales on this year’s list. Only three companies headquartered in the UK outside England appear on it at all.
How Final Rentals qualified for the Sifted 250?
Sifted does not accept forecasts, projections or annual recurring revenue. Companies must back the numbers they report with signed financial documentation, and the majority of their revenue has to come from their own technology. Final Rentals met that bar.
“Sifted doesn’t count promises,” Akhtar said in comments reported by Cardiff Life. “You put your signed accounts on the table and compete with the best companies in Europe on real revenue.”
The only Welsh company on the list
Akhtar said a search of the report for Cardiff returned one result: Final Rentals. He called it a “dot on the map” he is proud of, and said he does not want it to stay lonely.
Cardiff Life describes the company as a Welsh Government Export Champion and notes that Akhtar was named FinTech Leader of the Year at the 2026 FinTech Awards Wales.
The Sifted 250 is the second Sifted ranking to include Final Rentals this year. In March, the company was named to the Sifted 100, which covers the UK and Ireland, and described itself as the only Welsh tech company on that list in its first half 2026 review.
BLADE and the technology behind the growth
Cardiff Life reports that Final Rentals runs a franchise model connecting independent local car rental operators with international customers and online travel platforms. The thinking is that a small operator should have the same booking technology and global distribution as a multinational.
Akhtar put it this way: “Our growth comes from one idea: independent rental operators deserve the same technology and global distribution as the giants. BLADE gives them that.”
According to the company’s own account of its history, BLADE launched in 2020, during the pandemic, as a booking engine designed to simplify renting a car.
From Cardiff to more than 65 countries
Akhtar founded Final Rentals in 2019, and the company moved its global headquarters to Wales in 2022, Cardiff Life reported. It now operates across more than 65 countries, with a team of around 30 people spread across 12 countries.
Customers book through the Final Rentals car rental booking platform. In January 2026 the company began serving car rental in the United Kingdom, with pickup points at Heathrow Airport, Kensington and Battersea in London. In August it made a deposit free rental option available to every partner in its franchise network.
What comes next
Entries for the 2027 Sifted list open in January. Akhtar encouraged Welsh founders with growing revenue to apply, saying his inbox is open and he will help them through the process.
He hopes that by next year a search of the list returns so many Welsh names he can “lose count.”
This article draws on reporting by Cardiff Life, published on 2 October 2026.
