27
de Març
de
2017
Act.
27
de Març
de
2017
Imagine you had to spend a couple of years travelling from city to city. It would mean constantly moving, so you could not buy too much stuff so as not to have to take it all with you every time you moved. In fact, the best thing would be just to have one case. Yet, what if you suddenly needed a camera, sports equipment or a fridge to go camping? This is what happened to Dhiren Chatlani, who came up with the idea for Relendo,a startup from Valencia that the team itself defines as "the Wallapop of renting".
The project has been running for two years. Its aim is to show that you can live with very little and rent everything else you might need only occasionally. "It is a platform where both private individuals and professionals can put their products up for hire, or the other way round, and rent them," says the company's CMO, Borja Postigo.
It works just like Wallapop,Vibbo or any other application devoted to similar activities. The users negotiate through the tool and the payment is made via the platform. The user renting the object pays the agreed amount and the owner receives it later, when the product is returned. That includes both the fee for renting the material or product for the established time as well as insurance, because Relendo has an agreement with Zúrich to cover the products advertised by its users. "But only up to 5,000 euros," adds Postigo, who says that this has allowed them to "eliminate doubt when it comes to putting possessions up for hire." With this business model, the startup was one of the 24 finalist in the 4YFN in the Digital Media category.
Borja Postigo and Dhiren Chatlani at the 4YFN 2017. Ceded
Pioneers in a changing market
Despite the websites and apps that specialise in renting vehicles, property or photographic equipment, among other things, the Valencian startup is the only one in Spain that offers the renting of all types of products. The CMO, however, points out that in the Netherlands there is the case of Peerby, an example that works and that makes them think that their platform can be equally successful.
At the start of the year they passed the barrier of 10,000 users and ended 2016 with average monthly growth of 22% in the number of transactions. They are figures that are constantly growing and that would not be possible without the precedents of Airbnb or Blablacar. "Some years ago no one would have thought about sharing a car to work or renting out an empty room, but now society is getting used to lending out its possessions," he says.
Yet, they have done a lot of educating. From their point of view, Postigo believes that they have created "the necessary trust": "We validate all the profiles, we ask for ID numbers, we have insurance... It all provides trust to break down the barrier."
A market open to everything and everyone
There is no age group that uses the app more than another. There are 20-year-olds looking for a GoPro and 50-year-olds wanting tools to repair something at home, according to the examples given by the CMO.
This is why they have products of every type available, even though the area of photography and video is the most active, followed by material for events, tools, sports products and mobile homes and camper vans, a category that was recently created.
Consolidating in Spain, a difficult market
The team, made up of seven people, has received the support of the Demium incubator of Seed Rocket and the Plug and Play community, located in Silicon Valley. Moreover, in the past two years, they have been funded with their own capital and an investment round of almost 170,000 euros. Also with the profits from the platform, which takes a commission of 20% on each transaction.
They are now looking to close a second funding round. The idea is to raise 400,000 euros to finish establishing the model in Spain, consolidating the market and beginning the process of going international. The first viable destination for Postigo is France, "a country that is more used to the collaborative economy," but that will be in 2018.
At the same time, they tell VIA Empresa that the Spanish market is difficult for this new segment. That means that if they manage to stabilise the business, it will make the work of European expansion easier.
The project has been running for two years. Its aim is to show that you can live with very little and rent everything else you might need only occasionally. "It is a platform where both private individuals and professionals can put their products up for hire, or the other way round, and rent them," says the company's CMO, Borja Postigo.
It works just like Wallapop,Vibbo or any other application devoted to similar activities. The users negotiate through the tool and the payment is made via the platform. The user renting the object pays the agreed amount and the owner receives it later, when the product is returned. That includes both the fee for renting the material or product for the established time as well as insurance, because Relendo has an agreement with Zúrich to cover the products advertised by its users. "But only up to 5,000 euros," adds Postigo, who says that this has allowed them to "eliminate doubt when it comes to putting possessions up for hire." With this business model, the startup was one of the 24 finalist in the 4YFN in the Digital Media category.
Borja Postigo and Dhiren Chatlani at the 4YFN 2017. Ceded
Pioneers in a changing market
Despite the websites and apps that specialise in renting vehicles, property or photographic equipment, among other things, the Valencian startup is the only one in Spain that offers the renting of all types of products. The CMO, however, points out that in the Netherlands there is the case of Peerby, an example that works and that makes them think that their platform can be equally successful.
At the start of the year they passed the barrier of 10,000 users and ended 2016 with average monthly growth of 22% in the number of transactions. They are figures that are constantly growing and that would not be possible without the precedents of Airbnb or Blablacar. "Some years ago no one would have thought about sharing a car to work or renting out an empty room, but now society is getting used to lending out its possessions," he says.
Yet, they have done a lot of educating. From their point of view, Postigo believes that they have created "the necessary trust": "We validate all the profiles, we ask for ID numbers, we have insurance... It all provides trust to break down the barrier."
A market open to everything and everyone
There is no age group that uses the app more than another. There are 20-year-olds looking for a GoPro and 50-year-olds wanting tools to repair something at home, according to the examples given by the CMO.
This is why they have products of every type available, even though the area of photography and video is the most active, followed by material for events, tools, sports products and mobile homes and camper vans, a category that was recently created.
Consolidating in Spain, a difficult market
The team, made up of seven people, has received the support of the Demium incubator of Seed Rocket and the Plug and Play community, located in Silicon Valley. Moreover, in the past two years, they have been funded with their own capital and an investment round of almost 170,000 euros. Also with the profits from the platform, which takes a commission of 20% on each transaction.
They are now looking to close a second funding round. The idea is to raise 400,000 euros to finish establishing the model in Spain, consolidating the market and beginning the process of going international. The first viable destination for Postigo is France, "a country that is more used to the collaborative economy," but that will be in 2018.
At the same time, they tell VIA Empresa that the Spanish market is difficult for this new segment. That means that if they manage to stabilise the business, it will make the work of European expansion easier.