One of the most interesting expressions of innovation is its ability to revolutionise even business sectors that seem to be unshakeable and with very little room for improvement. However, we have learned over the years that even the most solid sectors, such as banking, for example, are not immune to waves of innovation that change their operating models, business models and market relationship models.
A prime example of this trend can be seen in the roadside assistance sector, a business that would appear to have reached structural consolidation but which the scale-up Hlpy is proving capable of profound innovation.
Valerio Chiaronzi is the CEO and co-founder of Hlpy. He tells Startupbusiness about the birth and growth of his company, which in just over four years has gone from taking its first steps to being present in five different European markets: Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Austria.
“I worked in Italian tech companies during the new economy era, then moved on to groups involved in roadside assistance and insurance, where I gained in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms of this sector. So, at a certain point, together with Graziano Cavallo, Enrico Noseda and then Stefano Sarti (in the opening photo, ed.), we founded Hlpy with the aim of entering the automotive assistance sector with an approach that leveraged technology and data to achieve new levels of efficiency.”
The scale-up completed a pre-seed round in 2020, a second round of €7.5 million in 2022, and then one of €18 million in 2024. Hlpy’s main investors are Nextalia, Alkemia Capital, CDP Venture Capital, and The Techshop, and the scale-up has raised a total of approximately €25 million to date.
“Our mission is to give people access to assistance services using technological tools, thereby making the entire process much faster and quicker. Today, we can count on a network of four thousand partners across Europe who provide physical assistance and use our platform to interact with users, geolocate vehicles, and obtain all the information needed to provide a timely and comprehensive service. This means that the fleet managers of our customers, who are entirely business-oriented, such as long- and short-term rental companies, car manufacturers (Volkswagen and Tesla are among our customers) and insurance companies, can manage vehicles in real time, always know everything about their status and intervene effectively when necessary.”
The service relies heavily on digital tools, but also provides assistance through operators who are available 24 hours a day and are able to resolve any type of unexpected issue that may arise.
“In 2021, we began our international expansion phase, and today France is our largest market in terms of size. This process continued until last year, when we launched organic operations in Spain and France, where we also have an office in Paris. Then, in 2024, we acquired the German company MyschleppApp, which allowed us to immediately become operational in both Germany and Austria, a market where we want to grow further, also looking towards Eastern Europe.”
Hlpy offers roadside assistance, towing, on-site repairs, replacement cars, repairs and maintenance. There are currently 130 people working for Hlpy, based in Milan, where both the holding company and the operating company for the Italian market are located, in Cologne, where the original headquarters of the German company that was acquired is located, and in Paris, which, as mentioned, has become the largest market, accounting for approximately 40% of the total, followed by Italy and Germany. In 2025, Hlpy provided 300,000 services and generated €60 million in recurring revenue, representing 107% growth compared to 2024: “We only have business customers, we do not promote the service to private individuals. Today, there are around 7.5 million vehicles equipped with our technology and often end users do not even know our name. We work on a white label basis for organisations such as rental companies, manufacturers and insurance companies, and the goal is to reach €100 million in recurring revenue by 2027.”
To achieve this, the company intends to accelerate its international growth process by focusing on Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and rapidly developing markets such as Poland. “Of course, today we are able to provide the service both in the five countries where we are directly present and therefore where we sell it, but also in countries where, although we are not present, our users find themselves travelling, and we do so through agreements with other companies in the sector in order to be able to provide assistance throughout Europe.”
Hlpy defines itself as an automotive digital company because it is, in fact, a technology company that develops its own platform, which, in its latest incarnation, also integrates agentic artificial intelligence and is capable of both orchestrating all the services provided by its 4,000 partners and integrating the support of operators, whom users turn to about 15% of the time and who therefore remain a fundamental part of the offering.
We operate in a market where our competitors are large international assistance companies, insurance companies that are not our customers, and automobile clubs that are certainly very strong in some markets but are generally behind in the use of digital technologies, which inevitably penalises the quality of the final service. We are talking about a market, the so-called automotive aftermarket, which is worth around €300 billion in Europe and is therefore a very large market that allows organisations operating efficiently to have ample room for growth. We started out knowing its characteristics and focusing on introducing technologies and innovation that are increasingly appreciated by customers and users today.”
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