South African Product Rentals Platform, Rentoza, Eyes West African Expansion
After receiving funding from Khulisani Ventures investment arm of the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), South African goods rental service, Rentoza is preparing to expand across West Africa over the next 12 months.
Founded in 2018, Rentoza offers South Africans product subscriptions for necessities like baby products and technology appliances. The business intends to make it possible for consumers to acquire these things on flexible terms and at reasonable prices so they can benefit from them without ever having to purchase them.
According to Mishaan Ratan, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Rentoza, admitted that the startup identified that there was no model that offered access and non-ownership on a pay-as-you-use basis and this served as a growth potential.
“There was no model in the market that existed that delivered access and non-ownership on a pay-as-you-use basis. This is where we saw the opportunity to develop a subscription model for products that gave people the best technology when they needed it to achieve their outcomes and not have to extend themselves beyond their means,” said Ratan.
The startup’s revenue and subscriptions have increased by 357% and 400% respectively, during the past 20 months, and it now employs 52 people. Prior to raising $1.3 million from the Johanneburg-based MIC, the company was bootstrapped with the exception of a small amount of funding from Startupbootcamp AfriTech. As a result, the company is now thinking more broadly.
About Rentoza
Using retail sources, the South African start-up Rentoza aims to make common commodities accessible to customers. From their perspective, consumers might only be interested in a product for a limited time and retailers have inventory that they won’t be able to easily transfer.
“Through our good friends at RCS, we learned that within their retail space, we have potential access to over 25 000 retail stores. Through some research we conducted, we identified three high earning or potentially earning “verticals”, being appliances, consumer electronics and baby goods,” said Chris Govender, co-founder and COO of Rentoza.
Rentoza’s platform has different categories, ranging from appliances, electronics, baby equipment, etcetera. The customer simply has to register with Rentoza. Select the item(s) they want and for how long. The customer will be notified by email and through the app to make the payment.