Online furniture and appliance rental startup Renticle.com has raised $4 million in new funding. The lead investors in this round are Singapore-based venture capital firm ThinKuvate and Ajay Relan, chairman of his VC firm CX Partners in India.
The significance of this funding is that Renticle.com has chosen to raise funding with a mix of equity and debt, with the ratio understood to be 45:55. It was also learned that the two venture capitalists mentioned above wanted to acquire the equity portion and the debt financing was done by DMI Finance, a Delhi-based NBFC. Some of the startup's existing investors also participated in the $4 million funding round.
The funds raised in this funding round will be used to expand geographically and add more products to our customers. A portion of the proceeds will also be used to strengthen internal processes and infrastructure.
Rentickle.com is operated by AVA Lifestyle Products and Services and currently has limited operations in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida (effectively NCR) and Hyderabad. Customers can find and rent the furniture, appliances, and other household items they temporarily need all in one place for a fee.
Investors feel that the startup operates on a strong know-your-customer process that minimizes defaulters, which is essential for this type of business. Their dues recovery rate is very impressive and bodes well for the future of the project. Promoters and funders are equally opportunistic about the prospects for online rental of lifestyle products and envisage strong growth in this sector that will benefit Renticle.com in the medium to long term.
The project had received $250,000 worth of seed funding from a group of angel investors in 2016. Renticle.com has several startups competing in the same space. These include CityFurnish, GrabOnRent, FlatFurnish, Furlenco, and probably a few more.
