Rentoza in an online rental marketplace gives South Africans access to essential items without the commitment of buying.
Rentoza is an online rental platform originally designed to provide a business to consumer (B2C) and peer to peer (P2P) rental marketplace for South Africans to help them access lifestyle items that were previously out of reach. Rentoza existed prior to my involvement, but funding accelerated and the platform launched into the market once my team began working on the brand.
Our work started with a subtle logo update and brand development. We chose more visually pleasing colours that worked better on screens and fixed some issues with the lettering on the logotype.
We then conducted research into global competitors and used this to inform our wireframes and functional spec. The first sprint aimed to build an MVP to help secure funding and prove the concept to investors and potential vendors. The MVP was described and shown in investor presentations and demos that we crafted with input from the Rentoza board. The MVP and presentations we helped develop resulted in Rentoza being chosen as one of the top 10 startups out of over 1900 for StartUpBootcamp in 2019.
We then conducted research into global competitors and used this to inform our wireframes and functional spec. The first sprint aimed to build an MVP to help secure funding and prove the concept to investors and potential vendors. The MVP was described and shown in investor presentations and demos that we crafted with input from the Rentoza board. The MVP and presentations we helped develop resulted in Rentoza being chosen as one of the top 10 startups out of over 1900 for StartUpBootcamp in 2019.
Our second sprint was to create a stable, working v1.1 version of Rentoza.co.za. This included the borrower platform for customers and a lender platform for our B2C vendors. Our product verticals included electronics, appliances and baby goods based off consumer insights and research.
Borrowers could create an account, find an item they wanted to rent and request to rent it for any period of time longer than a minimum set by the vendor. They were shown a detailed breakdown of the costs including delivery to their doorstep and installation if required.
Lenders had the ability to register through the platform, manage inventory and set pricing and promotions. They could initiate conversations with borrowers and trigger an arbitration process if items were not returned or were returned in a damaged state.
In order to guarantee the safety of all parties involved, we integrated with an insurance partner to insure every single item rented through rentoza. Calculations of value and insurance fees were done based on the pricing set by lenders in their inventory management. Each item over a certain value was required to have a serial number attached and proved with an accompanying photo. Theft and fraud were major concerns, so we integrated with a third party credit checking service. Blacklisted borrowers were blocked from renting and those with very low credit scores were flagged.
Since successfully launching in Q4 2019 and securing funding, the Rentoza board has identified an opportunity to pivot into an even more lucrative position within the market and Rentoza is actively moving towards this with a subscription-based rent-to-own service rendering Rentoza v1.1 obsolete.