RentoMojo Success Story - How it Fosters Living the Contemporary Lifestyle on Rent?

Company Profile is an initiative by ListMyStartUp to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by RentoMojo.

illennials today are more into sharing than owning things. Be it workspaces, cabs, or furniture. With the passage of time, we are seeing a revolutionary modernization of the things that were done traditionally. To bring the air of change in lifestyle and how it is lead, IIT-Madras graduates, Geetansh Bamania and Ajay Nain founded RentoMojo in 2014 to empower the furniture renting space.

Rentomojo has touched a valuation of nearly $100 million after raising fresh funding in June 2020. You can rent appliances, furniture, even office furniture on rent. People can rent furniture in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Chennai. Rentomojo allows you to rent furniture, appliances, and more online.

Curious to know more? Then read more about RentoMojo Company Profile, Founders, Competitors, RentoMojo Funding, Growth, Revenue, RentoMojo Valuation, Business Model, and Market Size on this StartupTalky article ahead.

RentoMojo - Company Highlights

  • Company Name-RentoMojo
  • Headquarter-Bangalore, India
  • Sector-Ecommerce, Rental
  • Founder-Achal Mittal, Ajay Nain, Gautam Adukia, Geetansh Bamania
  • Founded-2014
  • Total Funding-$70.9 Million (2021)
  • Revenue/Turnover-$13.44 mn (Rs 110 crore in FY21)
  • Valuation-$100 Million+ (2021)
  • Website-rentomojo.com
  • Parent Company-Edunetwork Pvt.

RentoMojo - About and how it works

As the name suggests, RentoMojo is a consumer leasing company. It is an online rental platform that provides furniture, appliances, and electronics (mobiles, laptops) on a monthly rental basis. It is quite the leader in the lifestyle leasing/subscription industry in terms of revenue and number of subscribers. One of the reasons that fostered its growth is the asset-light financial business model, which makes this venture unique and sustainable.

Current verticals of RentoMojo majorly include furniture, appliances, and electronics. These verticals offer various items such as beds, microwaves, television, tables, and water purifiers on rent. Besides all this wide array of items, this platform also gives packages on combined items.

It raises lease capital from financial institutions for products rented to consumers for long periods, typically up to 18 months. The company currently offers leases for furniture, appliances, bikes, and more. Rentomojo ideally functions through tie-ups with local suppliers and does not hold any of its inventory.

RentoMojo - Target Market Size

According to a recent survey and the current economic growth rates, subscription or technology-led rental space is at a very nascent stage. However, with rising urbanization and frequent movements of the working class from one city to another, the overall scope of online rental platforms is bound to rise. Over 90% of the furniture sector in India is unorganized and merely 1% of that is online.

According to a Redseer Consulting report, “the home furniture industry is a $25 billion market altogether, of which $250 million is online. However, by 2020, the home furniture industry is supposed to be worth $35 billion on the whole, with $700 million of it being online.”

RentoMojo - Founders and Team

RentoMojo was founded by Geetansh Bamania, Achal Mittal, and Ajay Nain in November 2014 in Bengaluru, India.

Geetansh Bamania

Geetansh Bamania is the Founder & CEO of RentoMojo. Geetansh has a BTech and an MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. He is a serial entrepreneur and has forayed into multiple ventures like community learning start-up (Click2skill) and philanthropic crowdfunding start-up (HopeMonkey). He has also worked with multinational companies like Flipkart, Pepperfry, and KPMG. He was selected for Forbes 30 under 30 in the year 2015 and was in the top 10 youngest and hottest entrepreneurs voted by Business World.

Achal Mittal

Achal Mittal is a Founding Member of RentoMojo along with being a Co-founder of Liquiloans. Mittal was a Bcom student at Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, who later obtained an MBA in Finance from SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. Mittal served managerial posts at HSBC and ICICI banks respectively before pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams.

Ajay Nain

Ajay Nain is the Ex-Co-Founder and COO of the company. Ajay is also an engineer from IIT Madras and holds a dual degree (Btech and Mtech) in Mechanical Engineering, much like the founder of the company, Geetansh. Nain also happens to be a Lean Six Sigma expert in Supply Chain from RABQSA. After being the co-founder of RentoMojo, Ajay Nain went on to found Gully Network Retail with the vision of organizing the unorganized retail space. Ajay Nain was a senior consultant at KPMG, the Head of the Operational Excellence at The Himalaya Drug Company, and the Manager of Operations at Daimler India.  

Gautam Adukia was also one of the founding members of the company along with the co-founders mentioned above.  

Rentomojo operates with an employee of over 400 employees.

RentoMojo - Startup Story | RentoMojo - How did it start?

All of this started when Rentomojo founder Geetansh was managing products at Flipkart and then went on to head the furniture category at Pepperfry. All this while, he kept moving around the four main cities of India namely Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai. And during this exact time, his brother was in the UK and he rented or leased pretty much everything he needed to sustain a temporary living arrangement. Hence, Geetansh too started thinking on similar lines but renting furniture and appliances was the first of the renting ideas that he came up with.

Geetansh, RentoMojo owner, had initially thought of renting out toys to children, with the reasons being that they are expensive and children only use them for a couple of days before the parents buy them new ones. However, Geetansh soon recollected that he had a background and relevant experience in furniture and appliance. This is why he realized that furniture and appliances 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.

RentoMojo - Name, Tagline and Logo

Rentomojo goes by the tagline "Start Renting."

RentoMojo - Business Model and Revenue Model

RentoMojo initially started as a furniture rental platform. However, it was quick to realize that behaving like a fintech or leaving a company would be more beneficial. This is why it modified its business model soon to promote itself as a fintech or leasing company, which provides consumers with a viable alternative to traditional EMIs by offering rental options across various product categories.

RentoMojo follows an asset-light business model, where it has tied up with strategic vendors and works on a cost-sharing basis with them.

A majority of its income comes from renting its furniture and fixtures. The other half comes from its customers via subleasing assets and other ancillary fees that the company collects.

RentoMojo - Startup Launch

After launching the startup, RentoMojo received its first order in just within a month i.e., December of the same year. Also, within 24 months, RentoMojo grew from catering to 1,000 customers to 25,000 customers. During this time the company claimed to grow on a scale of 40X.

When it comes to sourcing, RentoMojo works with only a few vendors. 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 and well-known vendors in the city, the startup ideally relies much more on local vendors.

RentoMojo - Startup Challenges

There is a common insight into the huge disparity in the purchasing power of developed and developing nations. RentoMojo as a venture strives to erode this problem and provide a contemporary and comfortable lifestyle to the younger generation.

Though availing the consumer products through leasing and renting is a fairly great concept because of is cheaper and also effectively convenient and flexible than buying, it is still a foreign and new concept for Indian consumers.

“Effectively reaching out to make them aware and influence our target audience with the appropriate marketing mix at optimum investment is the challenge”, said Geetansh, RentoMojo CEO.

RentoMojo is dodging challenges through effective targeting, putting up relevant and optimized content, spreading awareness hacks and communications to educate the Indian customers about renting and its benefits.

“We face the same challenges as what Airbnb, Uber and lending clubs would have faced in their initial days”, added Geetansh, RentoMojo founder.

RentoMojo - Competitors

In the rental space of the country, RentoMojo faces both direct and indirect competition from the competitors like:

  • Furlenco
  • Urban Ladder
  • Pepperfry

There are many other major and minor players in the industry that also act as rivals to RentoMojo. However, none of these scaled-up companies in the lease and subscription industry have an asset-light model similar to RentoMojo, which it believes, is the only way to scale and crack subscription business globally. This asset-light business model is where most of the inventory is not owned by the company.

RentoMojo - Growth and Revenue

Some of the growth highlights of Rentomojo are as follows:

Rentomojo clocked a revenue of Rs 110 crore in FY19.

Has over and above 25,000 plus subscribers

Currently, RentoMojo has around 2,000 active subscribers on the platform

Serves more than 100,000 live orders in a month

Operates in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Noida, and Gurugram.

Also, the company recently started offering motorcycles and bike rentals.

RentoMojo has a team of about 50 people with current operations majorly four cities namely Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and Pune

The growth of the rental economy is evident from the financial performance of Rentomojo in FY19. According to regulatory filings, the company has managed to achieve a 3-fold growth in its revenue from operations, which grew from Rs 35.5 crore in FY18 to Rs 107 crore in FY19. Rentomojo had further improved its revenues in FY21, which is reported to be over the 100 crore mark. The company had further hoped to grow its revenues by 25-35% by the end of the mentioned fiscal.  

RentoMojo - Awards and Recognitions

RentoMojo was declared the winner of the Chiratae Ventures Pride of India Awards 2020 edition.

RentoMojo - Partnerships

RentoMojo has partnered with the online marketplace for pre-owned furniture and appliances, Zefo to help their customers avail of the facility of hassle-free 'Rental Monthly Instalments - RMI on April 18, 2018.

Prior to this, the furniture rental and financing platform has also partnered with BroEx! in December 2015.

RentoMojo - Future Plans

RentoMojo is currently looking to expand its business and enhance its categories. It also wants to increase its profit margins in the times upcoming.

RentoMojo - FAQs

How is RentoMojo?

The inventory is attractive and beautifully presented. They rent everything from furniture to bikes and more. With a team of local furniture dealers, Digital Marketing experts, Data scientists, and a strong technical team, Rentomojo hopes to provide an amazing experience to its customers.

What is RMI RentoMojo?

RentoMojo allows consumers to subscribe or get smartphones on lease through the company's Rental Monthly Instalments (RMI) system. Online rental marketplace for furniture, home appliances, and two-wheelers Rentomojo has added high-end smartphone to its list.

Is it better to buy or rent furniture?

Buying your own furniture is an expensive process, requiring a high amount of money that requires to be paid upfront. Whereas the key benefit of renting furniture is the fact that only a negligible amount is paid upfront, with a reasonable rent to be paid monthly.

Where is RentoMojo Head office?

Bangalore, Karnataka. Rentomojo headquarters is located at Sona Towers, Millers Rd, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru.

Who is the CEO of RentoMojo?

Geetansh Bamania is the Founder & CEO of RentoMojo

When was RentoMojo started?

RentoMojo was founded by Achal Mittal, Ajay Nain, Gautam Adukia and Geetansh Bamania in 2014.

Who is the Parent Company of RentoMojo?

Edunetwork Private Limited, doing business as Rentomojo, offers furnishing solutions platform

How long does RentoMojo take to deliver?

After you have subscribed and made the payment, RentoMojo does a quick verification of your profile and other required procedures. Once your profile is verified, the product is delivered within 2-3 working days.