Chennai-based two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor Company Ltd has invested Rs 1.5 crore (around $234,000) in RentOnGo, an online marketplace for renting bikes, electronics and appliances.
TVS Motor picked up a 24% stake in Bengaluru-based RentOnGo in return for the investment, it said in a stock exchange filing.
The filing from TVS Motor comes a little over two months after VCCircle reported that two-wheeler manufacturer had invested an undisclosed amount in RentOnGo.
TVS Motor said the investment is part of its strategy to have a foothold in the emerging pay-by-service model targeting two-wheeler users.
RentOnGo, which is operated by Condivision Solutions Pvt. Ltd, was founded in 2012 by Nikhil Chhabra and Vikash Jalan.
The company lists products provided by vendors under around 15 categories, including bikes and scooters, vehicles (cars), electronics and appliances, furniture (both home and office), medical supplies, costumes, events and wedding supplies and adventure gear, among others.
Users can look for products that are available on rent and directly interact with the owner/vendor to finalise the deal. Once the deal is finalised, users can either pick up the product or get it delivered to their doorstep.
The firm, which was earlier present in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, has recently expanded to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, according to its website.
In December 2015, RentOnGo raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Snapdeal’s former chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran, GSF India founder Rajesh Sawhney, Kalpana Tatavarti (partner, Interweave Consulting), Shivanandan Pare (head of e-commerce, Madurai Lifestyle & Fashion) and other angel investors.
Chhabra, who holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta, earlier worked with HCL Technologies. Previously, he also worked with US-based IT firm Unisys Corp and Citibank. Co-founder and CTO Jalan previously worked with Goldman Sachs, Infosys and Otis Elevator Company.
In November 2016, TVS Group led an angel round worth $500,000 (around Rs 3.4 crore) in car service startup Carcrew.in, which is operated by Mumbai-based Carcrew Technology Pvt. Ltd.
In February this year, VCCircle reported that Bengaluru-based GrabOnRent Internet Pvt. Ltd, which runs product rental marketplace GrabOnRent, was close to raising $3 million (Rs 19.5 crore) in its Series A funding, after raising a pre-Series A round in June last year from IvyCap Ventures and Unicorn India Ventures.
TVS Motor also invested Rs 50 crore in TVS Credit Services Ltd. With the investment, TVS Motor’s holding in TVS Credit Services will go to 10.6% from 6.79% currently.
