RentOnGo raises angel funding from Snapdeal’s CPO Anand Chandrasekaran and others
RentOnGo, an online rental marketplace, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from Rajesh Sawhney; Anand Chandrasekaran, CPO, Snapdeal; Shiva Pare, Head, Trendin; Kalpana Tatarvati, Partner, Interweave Consulting; and among few others.
“The funding is crucial for our platform when we have pivoted to fulfillment model in some of the categories and are all set to take the business model to other parts of the country as well,” says Vikash Jalan, Co-Founder, RentOnGo.
With the investment raised in the round, RentOnGo plans to go deeper into the bike category garnering more supply, expanding into more cities, and providing more value-added services to customers.
He adds that the product fulfilment for bikes has been introduced in Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad. With this funding, he will introduce the model in other cities as well. It is quite challenging to find the right bike at the right price for required dates. RentOnGo's app solves this by showing real-time availability of bikes, allowing instant booking and doorstep delivery (available in Bengaluru as of now).
RentOnGo, a Bengaluru-based startup, which started as a horizontal marketplace in lead-gen model in 2013, pivoted earlier this year to a fulfilment model with an app for rental of bikes (motorbikes, scooters, and bicycles).
When asked about the angel funding, which came after two long years, Vikash said that he didn’t pursue the funding aggressively in the beginning as he wanted to understand the market of shared economy in the country. “By 2015, we had a good traction on our platform with around 40,000 visitors per month.”
Co-Founders Nikhil Chhabra and Vikas strongly feel that shared economy is the next big revolution. Thus, renting stuff in India makes perfect sense with a large aspirational population who cannot or do not want to spend on buying everything. RentOnGo was part of GSF's m-accelerator of 2015 batch.
In renting segment particularly, IRentShare, GrabOnRent, and Rentomojo, among others, are some of the platforms which rent out products in various categories – from furniture to electronics and appliances to many other products.
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PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the global sharing economy to be worth USD 15 billion today, a figure that is projected to hit USD 335 billion by 2025.
The concept of sharing economy is gradually catching up in the country. The collaborative consumption has been largely observed in the transportation segment. With Uber, Ola, and BlaBlaCar entering the market, the idea of sharing economy has become popular.
However, experts have varied opinion on sharing economy. With Uber and Ola reduced to taxi aggregator platforms, the idea of sharing economy seems to be defeated in the country. Airbnb, an online platform that lets individuals rent out their spare rooms to travellers, has prompted a substantial amount of listings from boutique hotels posing as private accommodations.
These developments surely give a dent to the idea of sharing economy. Nevertheless, some believe that the sharing is in the culture of the country and such sharing platforms will survive.
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