Rent to Own (RTO) has successfully completed a seed round of $1.05m in equity, enabling it to grow its provision of  high-impact assets to small scale-entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers in rural Zambia. The round was led by shareholder AHL Venture Partners, who significantly increased its investment, and supported by Small Foundation and Jordan Engineering (via Serenity Investments).

RTO has delivered over 7,000 productive use assets – from small solar products right up to agricultural processing machinery, as well as irrigation pumps and display fridges – and achieved an exceptional 96% repayment rate since inception in 2010. The company reached its first operational break-even months in the last two quarters of 2018.

“The closing of this seed round marks a milestone for Rent to Own on our journey to reach one million customers, said Jeffrey Scheidegger, RTO’s CEO.

“Access to the right equipment unlocks the great potential of entrepreneurs in rural, underserved markets, and we are excited to have the backing of strong investors like AHL, Small Foundation and Jordan Engineering (via Serenity Investments), as well as the continued support of Shell Foundation and others.”

This investment strengthens RTOs readiness to scale in Zambia and beyond, with a Series- A investment round on the horizon in H1 2019.