Carmoola CEO Aidan Rushby aims to deliver ‘wow’ factor with firm’s customer service.

Even as a child, if Aidan Rushby witnessed bullying at school the now entrepreneur’s modus operandi was to come to the rescue.

Fast forward several years to where Rushby set up car finance app Carmoola to help consumers and get rid the “horrendous” commissions which could see millions owed compensation following the motor loan mis-selling scandal.

“There is something about serving and helping people,” says Rushby, co-founder and CEO of the fintech start-up. It’s about delivering value for consumers so they can get a great product and ultimately you can drive a great business. I love seeing customers’ reactions to the product.”

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Rushby knew he was on to something when his mother-in-law understood the concept of Carmoula when he pitched it to her, ahead of launching the company in late 2022.

Carmoola has since processed around four million loan applications in the three years since the app first came to market — and acquired total funding to the tune of £146m.

Before car financing came car washing when he set up his first business as a 15-year-old. He later set up his own motor racing team, made websites at university selling T-shirts before working in property and “being out and about” in Bristol.

In 2013, Rushby started to think about digitising the rental experience and set up his first business venture, Movebubble, which lasted seven years. “It was painful and I made so many mistakes,” he admits.

“I had a fair amount of childhood trauma and I was in this loop of failing. I was quite persistent and kept on trying to raise money to keep it going.

Aidan Rushby says consumers ‘are trusting Carmoola with a very big purchase’. · Rosemary Roberts

“It’s not a great place as an entrepreneur to fear failure as you really need to embrace it. I wasn’t scared of taking risks, I was more scared of how others would perceive it if it didn’t work.”

Rushby, who has dyslexia, stepped away as CEO in 2021 and sensed an opportunity in the car finance market after mulling consumer business ideas in the mortgage and investment space.

He tested demand with a basic landing page website under a different brand name. Within a few hours, there were hundreds of sign ups for the product offering and it gave Rushby confidence to drive the business forwards.

“I saw that consumers were being ripped off by all these traditional lenders where they were paying the dealerships massive commissions and raking up the APRs,” he says. “I thought there was a big opportunity to go direct to the consumer and deliver a modern fintech product experience.”

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