In an era where everything from software to scooters has shifted to flexible, usage-based models, one sector has been slow to change: industrial equipment finance. Worth more than a trillion dollars globally and dominated by decades-old leasing structures, it has remained one of the least disrupted corners of the economy.
Enter Linxfour, a Vienna-based startup rethinking how factories, manufacturers, and industrial operators pay for the machines that power their businesses. By introducing pay-per-use financing, where companies only pay when their equipment is actually in use, Linxfour is bringing a fintech mindset to one of the world’s most traditional industries.
As part of our latest TechTalks with TFN series, we spoke with Peter Oser, the co-CEO of Linxfour, to talk about his unconventional journey from investment banking to industrial fintech, the trillion-dollar opportunity in usage-based equipment finance, and what it takes to scale in Europe’s fragmented regulatory landscape.
Have a look at the full video here
From investment banking to startup co-CEO
Oser’s route to leading a fintech innovator was anything but a straight line. His career began in the credit and fixed income markets of London’s investment banks, but a desire for more dynamic work led him away from traditional finance. “I left banking in 2012 as the industry was becoming a bit less dynamic than it had been before the financial crisis,” he told us. His first move was to build a life insurance business in the UK before moving to Germany with a private equity-backed insurer.
His life changed direction again after taking a sabbatical in 2020. Seeking a new direction, he began investing in startups, and Linxfour was one that captured his attention. Drawn to its mission of solving real customer problems in a traditional industry, he was one of its seed funders. However, keen to offer his experience and insight, he found himself becoming more and more involved in the company, to the point he became co-CEO.
Although the transition to industrial tech may be unusual, Oser is clear that you don’t need to be an engineer to work in industrial tech. His leadership philosophy, instead, focused on mission. “Ultimately, I think it’s really important for everybody in the company to understand where the business is heading and what the goals are,” Oser explained, “to make sure that everybody is behind those goals, and we pull together as a team.”
It’s an approach that guides his European perspective. Linxfour’s ten-strong team included people from seven different countries. “We never saw ourselves as an Austrian company,” he said. “We always consider ourselves to be a European business.”
Solving a trillion-dollar problem with pay-per-use
The industrial equipment finance market is vast, traditional, and dominated by leasing companies that have seen little innovation in decades. Linxfour’s core product, pay-per-use financing, disrupts that. Unlike a standard lease with a fixed monthly payment, customers only pay for the equipment when it is actively generating value for them.
“What we offer our customers… is pay-per-use financing where customers don’t pay us a fixed rate every month, but rather just pay us when they use the equipment,” Oser explained. This model delivers two powerful benefits. First, it converts a fixed cost into a variable one, providing businesses with greater flexibility and aligning costs directly with revenue generation. Second, it offers a significant accounting advantage. “If the lease is variable, and you only pay for the equipment when you use it, then that is not a liability on your balance sheet,” Oser said. This creates a major incentive for companies looking to invest in new machinery without bloating their balance sheets.
The data supporting the model also presents opportunities, although machine learning is not part of their current product, Oser foresees its use. “As we grow our database of machine utilisation data, it will become very interesting to use AI,” Oser explains. The data will allow better predictions of machine use and inform underwriting, helping benefit both Linxfour and their customers.
The company serves a broad range of clients, from SMEs financing individual machines to multinationals undertaking multi-million-euro factory projects. By addressing a clear gap in the market, Linxfour has positioned itself as a key enabler for the transition to equipment-as-a-service models.
Navigating funding and fragmentation on the path to scale
Building a capital-intensive fintech like Linxfour presents distinct challenges in the European investment landscape. Oser found that his startup’s focus on balance sheet risk was often a tough sell to VCs more familiar with payments or consumer tech. “We found it challenging to explain the business to traditional venture capital funds,” he said. “We ended up always raising money from very experienced finance professionals or people with a very strong industrial background.” This group includes Kinled Holdings, a key investor introduced through mutual contacts, who understood the opportunity immediately.
The other major hurdle is scaling across Europe’s notoriously fragmented regulatory environment. Each country presents its own set of rules, creating a significant burden. “One challenge for us is the whole regulatory environment,” he said, noting the lack of homogeneity across the continent. “It’s a real challenge, and it costs a lot of money.” Despite Linxfour’s launch across Europe, he suggests other founders consider starting in a single market and expanding sequentially to avoid those difficulties.
A milestone built on resilience
These challenges make Linxfour’s recent milestone all the more significant. The company is on track to become cash-flow positive next year and has secured a major vote of confidence. “One milestone that we’re definitely very proud of is that we recently convinced a large investor to launch a European equipment finance fund with us,” Oser revealed. While the official details are under wraps until 2026, this fund represents the next phase of growth.
For Peter Oser, the journey of building Linxfour has reinforced a fundamental leadership principle. “One of the key things is resilience,” he reflected. “When you start a business, never give up because you will be rejected so many times, but ultimately, it’s going to pay off.” With a transformative product, a clear European strategy, and a major new fund on the horizon, that persistence is poised to deliver substantial rewards.
This content is produced in collaboration with Kinled, a Hong Kong-based investment firm with a growing footprint in Austria and Switzerland, which has quietly assembled one of Europe’s most impactful fintech portfolios since 2010.
