All companies that run an online rental industry, supply rental equipment such as cranes, lifters, medical equipment, etc. to various sectors like construction, medical, electrical, power units, and many more. They also perform the task of logistics and warehousing for light and heavy equipment. Other operations of the industry include providing machinery operators to contractors and equipment repair and maintenance.
According to Global Market Insights, government and private sector operations on public and private infrastructure projects generate the majority of equipment rental demand. In the government sector, there is a need for equipment for the construction and refurbishment of roads, highways, airways, etc. While in the private sector, general contractors and subcontractors are driving industrial growth.
Dealers, original equipment manufacturers, and independent spare part-owners collaborate to create an online heavy equipment rental marketplace. Vendors, as a group, post their assets on the internet in order to accept rental requests from construction firms or individuals.
Today, we will be looking into one such business model, i.e., kwipped business model, and acquire our answers to “How does kwipped work?” and “How does kwipped make money?”. Along with that, we’ll dive deep into the online equipment rental business and simultaneously cover its main features and the future scope of being a part of this marketplace.
What is kwipped?
Kwipped is an online B2B equipment marketplace where business customers purchase, finance, and rent all kinds of industrial and commercial pieces of equipment from a network of qualified equipment suppliers.
The company makes it simple for companies to find and rent equipment from a worldwide network of suppliers. It works to connect businesses that need to hire equipment with the exact equipment they need, with a level of efficiency and reliability that can only be found at kwipped.com by giving access to the widest variety of rental equipment.
Kwipped was created to be a reliable community marketplace where businesses can find, discover, and rent specialized equipment. Its platform automates sourcing from a global network of equipment rental vendors, lowering risk, ensuring quality, and facilitating partnerships between marketplace participants.
The platform handles the sourcing and management of equipment rentals so that professionals may focus on innovating, managing business operations, engineering, and issue solving rather than looking for equipment. Kwipped looks for available rentals, ensures vendor quality, arranges procurement, and coordinates delivery. When a professional uses kwipped.com, he/she has a trustworthy partner who ensures that the business equipment arrives on time and is in good condition.
Kwipped business model
It was founded in December 2014 (according to Crunchbase) by Rober Preville after he built and sold two different companies- MFG (an online marketplace for buying and selling contract manufacturing services) and Global Test Supply (a distributor of electronic test and measurement equipment).
While operating his older businesses, Preville realized that even though there were many other companies in the market like GTS needing to rent equipment, the rental market was unorganized and fragmented. He also came to know that outside of the construction industry, finding businesses that rent equipment is challenging because most of these businesses are focused on sales rather than rentals. This realization led Preville to launch kwipped, a B2B equipment rental platform that facilitates rentals in a variety of industries, including surveying, audio/video, photography and film, farming, and many more.
How does kwipped work?
Like any other marketplace, kwipped allows suppliers to list equipment, and the renters can browse through these listings as per their needs. Additionally, these renters can submit a post request and obtain numerous offers from a range of vendors. Kwipped ensures that once a rental is chosen, the equipment is delivered on time and to the correct location.
Businesses all around the world rent equipment for various reasons, including a limited budget, wanting to try something before investing, and not wanting to end up accumulating unnecessary equipment when the project is over. By creating a simple platform and a simplified business model, kwipped has dramatically changed the equipment rental process for businesses. It was noted that these equipment renters include doctors, engineers, scientists, and other professionals who don’t have time to track down suppliers. This platform is a huge time savior for them.
Kwipped equipment categories
There are various equipment categories available on the kwipped platform available for sale/ purchase/ rent. Various categories are listed below:
- Medical
- Ophthalmic
- Metrology
- Restaurant
- Safety
- Laboratory
- Power Unit
- Telecom & Fiber Optic
- Surveying
- Environmental Testing
- Amusement
- Audio and Visual
- Brewery, Distillery, and Winery
- Computer
- Cosmetic and Medi Spa
- Crane
- Dental
- Drilling
- Electrical
- Electronic Test
- Farm
- Floor and Surface Preparation
- Food and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
- Heavy
- Light Construction
- Machine Tools
- Material Handling
- Oilfield
- Photography and Film
- Power and HVAC
- Road and Work Zone
- Trailers and Hauling
- Water and Wastewater Treatment
- Welding
How to get equipment on kwipped?
As there are various competing suppliers, we (as a buyer) have the option of comparing the prices of various suppliers present on the platform instead of depending on one lender. Kwipped has leveraged competition among its network of suppliers to ensure buyers get the lowest financing rates available.
- Shop and Compare equipment prices from various suppliers on the platform
- Request custom quotes from suppliers on kwipped
- Request lease/ finance offers from competing suppliers
How does kwipped work for suppliers?
There are 3 simple ways to sell your equipment on kwipped and grow your business sales. These are:
- List your inventory on the platform: Some KWIPPED customers know the exact equipment they need and are ready to schedule a rental or purchase equipment immediately through KWIPPED’s e-commerce shopping cart. Listing your inventory, with pricing, places your equipment in front of these active equipment buyers. These on-demand opportunities represent 33% of equipment transactions on KWIPPED, so listing your priced inventory is highly recommended. We have an API and an inventory management team to make the process easy and efficient.
- Quote Customer RFQs: Every week, highly qualified business customers submit hundreds of Requests for Quotes (RFQs) on the KWIPPED marketplace. Once you open your free KWIPPED Supplier account, you can choose which automatic RFQ notifications you’d like to receive and which RFQs you’d like to quote. KWIPPED earns a small commission on closed rentals and sales – so we only make money if you make money.
- Subscribe to APPROVE: APPROVE is designed for suppliers to deliver incredible value to their own direct customers (not customers you get through KWIPPED). APPROVE is a powerful SaaS solution that leverages technology and lender competition to turn traditional equipment financing upside down. Instead of sending your customers away to apply on a lender’s website, APPROVE brings the nation’s top lenders to you to compete for your customers’ business.
How does kwipped make money?
Every equipment rental business has a wide range of revenue generation channels. The most common ones are:
- Commission: The equipment owner earns a commission on every transaction that takes place on the platform, and the rest portion is charged by the platform itself.
- Advertising: The equipment owners can advertise their products on the platform. The advertising cost charged by the platform is decided on the basis of the number of clicks/views.
- Featured Listings: The equipment owners can pay a certain amount of money to add their listings in the featured section
- Subscriptions: Every platform has certain subscription plans that the sellers can buy to enjoy some added benefits with their usual operation on the platform, such as reduced delivery charges, discounts, etc.
Who are kwipped’s investors?
Kwipped is a platform where suppliers rent their equipment for businesses and industries. The company is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States.
According to Crunchbase, kwipped has successfully raised a total funding amount of $900K in over 3 rounds. The company is funded by 6 investors. VentureSouth is the most recent investor. Other investors include:
- The Angel Roundtable
- IMAF Cape Fear
- Wolfpack Investor Network
- Asheville Angels
- Upstate Carolina Angel Network
- Venture South
Kwipped raised its latest funding on Dec 20, 2018, from a Series A round.
Conclusion
According to research, the global construction equipment rental market is estimated to reach 250.4 billion, at a CAGR of 3.8 between 2021-2026. This data clearly showcases the humongous profit in the equipment rental marketplace in the coming years. Renting equipment makes economic sense as it saves a comparatively huge amount of cost of buying new equipment and also brings down frequent expenses such as labor, maintenance, and operational costs.
With current sales of $37.43 billion in 2020-21 and expected revenue of $42.6 billion in 2024, the equipment rental industry is a substantial contributor to the US economy. This estimate includes short-term rental and leasing initiatives, showing that overall equipment rental activities are expected to rise.
If you are desirous to launch a platform similar to kwipped, Ncrypted Technologies has the right solutions developed by our capable and innovative workforce. We offer customized and innovative features as per your requirement to let you launch a successful B2B equipment selling, purchasing, and renting marketplace similar to the kwipped platform.
