Tenderd, a rental marketplace for heavy equipment used in the construction industry, has announced it raised $5.8 million in seed funding from a number of prominent investors across MENA and Silicon Valley. The Dubai-based startup claims this might very well be the largest ever seed round for a MENA startup.
The round was led by Y Combinator and BECO Capital, with significant contributions coming from Global Founders Capital, SOMA, Dynami, VentureSouq, Matt Muckiewicz, Justin Mateen, Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, and Paul Buchheit.
Tenderd was founded by Arjun Mohan in 2018 with the vision of ensuring that construction companies in the region do not have to cope with the shortage of right equipment. Apparently, Mohan himself experienced difficulties on that front while he was managing his family’s construction business, which eventually motivated him to launch Tenderd.
Tenderd follows a business model somewhat similar to that of, say Airbnb, the global heavyweights in the hospitality sector. The platform allows people to list their heavy equipment for rent at reasonable prices.
For equipment owners, it gives them a shot at making extra money from their equipment which would otherwise sit idle in the off season. As for those who rent these equipment, they now have access to a wide range of hardware that they can procure for a limited period of time and pay accordingly.
Speaking on the occasion, Tenderd founder Arjun Mohan noted: “We’re a startup run by a small, tight-knit team tackling a large and exciting problem. The construction industry has always lagged in adopting technology. However, our clients are increasingly more receptive to solutions that will help increase productivity and reduce capital investments. Our goal is to combine the efficiencies of a marketplace with the latest technologies to help them better compete.”
The startup now plans on using the newly raised funds in further fueling its exponential growth.
