The increasing popularity of the sharing economy has encouraged businesses to allow consumers on a use-per-need basis to avoid purchases and instead rent goods and services. Today’s millennials believe only in sharing rather than buying. Suppose it’s workspaces, cabs, or even furnishings. As we move forward in the future, we see much more modernization of older generations’ things done quite traditionally.
About the Company
As the name suggests, RentoMojo is a Fintech consumer leasing company. It is an online leasing site that offers monthly furniture, appliances, and electronics (mobile, laptop). In terms of market share and subscribers, it is the lifestyle leasing/subscription market leader. This is essential because of its asset-light financial business model, which makes the venture unique and sustainable. RentoMojo is owned and operated by Edu network Pvt. Ltd and provides consumers with a viable alternative to traditional EMIs through rental options across various product categories.
The current width of RentoMojo majorly includes furniture, electronics, and appliances. These verticals offer various items such as Sofas, microwaves, TVs, tablets, and ROs on rent. Besides all this wide length of things, this platform also offers several packages on combined items.
How did it start?
This business idea was generated when RentoMojo founder Geetansh managed products at Flipkart and then headed the furniture category at Pepperfry. He kept moving around India’s four main cities, namely Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. And during this same time, his brother was in the United Kingdom, and he used to rent or lease pretty much everything he needed to sustain a temporary living apartment. Hence, Geetansh, too, started thinking in a similar direction but renting furniture and appliances was not his first idea.
Geetansh, the RentoMojo owner, initially thought of renting out toys to children, with the reasons being that they are generally expensive and children only use them for a short duration before the parents buy them new ones. But because of his background and relative experience in furniture and appliance, he realized that this would be a more known path to begin his entrepreneurial journey. That’s when he quit Pepperfry and went on to launch RentoMojo in November 2014.
Geetansh has done his Engineering degree from IIT Madras. He is an Entrepreneur and has forayed into multiple ventures like community learning startup (Click2skill) and philanthropic crowdfunding startup (HopeMonkey).
Business Model of the Company
RentoMojo was started as a furniture rental platform but quickly modified its business model to promote itself as a fintech or leasing company, which offered consumers a viable alternative to breaking traditional EMIs by offering rental options across various products.
RentoMojo has an asset-light business model with a tie-up with strategic vendors and works on a cost-sharing basis.
Here are the words about RentoMojo Business Model from Geetansh.
“On the off chance that a shopper purchases furniture with a specific EMI residency, he needs to complete that residency whether he is utilizing that household item or not. For our situation, if the purchaser chooses to end the residency of the rent in the middle of for reasons unknown, he or she can do as such without paying for the rest of the era. They can stroll off the agreement and pay the differential,“
When it comes to sourcing the products, RentoMojo works with only a few vendors than several. These vendors have been identified carefully by the Company on a basis like the quality of products and turnaround time (TAT). Instead of dealing with large vendors in the city, the Startup relies much more on local vendors.
Every Challenge is an Opportunity
RentoMojo, as a venture, provides a contemporary and comfortable lifestyle to the new generation. Though availing the consumer products through leasing or renting is a reasonably great concept because it is cheaper and more convenient, and flexible than buying, it is still a foreign and new concept to Indian customers.
“Effectively reaching out to aware and influence our target segment with the appropriate marketing mix at the finest investment is the challenge,” said Geetansh, RentoMojo CEO.
RentoMojo deals with challenges through effective targeting, putting up relevant and optimized campaigns’, spreading awareness, and effective communications to educate the Indian customers about renting and its benefits.
Also Read: Pepperfry – Bringing Furniture To Your Doorstep
Competitors in the Market
RentoMojo faces direct and indirect competition from players like Furlenco, Urban Ladder, and Pepperfry among many others in the industry in the country’s rental space. However, none of these companies in the industry have an asset-light business model, with which RentoMojo, as a company, operates and thinks, is the only way to scale the subscription business globally and stand out among the competitors. In an asset-light business model, most of the inventory/products are not owned by the RentoMojo.
“As an asset-light company, we have the freedom to expand to the new locations with the click of a button, increase our number of partners, and expand our capacity. Through outsourcing of asset sharing, we can focus on scaling by investing in R&D“, said Geetansh, owner of RentoMojo.
Who is funding the Company?
RentoMojo has raised $47.1M in funding over 12 rounds from investors like IDG Ventures India, Google Launchpad Accelerator, InnoVen Capital, IntelleGrow, and Samsung Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Accel Partners, BCIP Venture Associates, Bain Capital, and Renaud Laplanche.
Online rental marketplace RentoMojo has touched a valuation of nearly $100 million after raising fresh funding from venture capital investors.
RentoMojo growth and Future Plans
RentoMojo clocked a revenue of Rs 110 crore in FY19 and Has over and above 25,000 plus subscribers. Currently, RentoMojo has around 2,000 active subscribers on the platform and serves more than 100,000 live orders in a month. RentoMojo has about 50 people with current operations, majorly ten cities, namely Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, and many more.
On 13 August of 2020, the Company announced its plans to offer smartphones, including Samsung and Apple phones, on rent and add low-priced phones and other smart devices in the next few months. The Company estimated that by March 2021, smartphones would contribute 40% of its revenues, Bamania said. The Company also plans to continue adding new categories and is currently test-marketing men’s clothing rental in Bengaluru.
“Will Indian consumers adopt the rental as a category, or is this a temporary shift?”
