Rently secures $12m credit facility from January Capital for rent payments

Rently, a Singapore-based proptech startup, has taken a $12 million growth credit facility from January Capital. The capital is directed at its rental payment operations in Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE, and at markets the company has not yet entered.

The facility will fund rental transaction financing, customer acquisition and geographic expansion. It is structured to let Rently back more contracts and push its Rent Now Pay Later product further into existing and new markets.

Rent is the largest recurring expense for most households, and in Rently's markets it can consume as much as 40% of monthly household income. Shiv Mahajan, the company's chief executive, framed the problem simply: rent is "the biggest payment most people make and still the least flexible."

the biggest payment most people make and still the least flexible.

The UAE illustrates the mismatch. Dubai recorded almost 1.2 million tenancy contracts in 2025, and many residents still hand over a full year of rent in one to four cheques while drawing a monthly salary. Easing that upfront burden has become a policy priority. The Dubai Land Department launched Flexi Rent in June 2026 to allow tenants to pay by the month.

Rently's Rent Now Pay Later sits in the same gap. Tenants pay monthly; landlords receive structured, timely payouts rather than waiting on a post-dated cheque. The arrangement moves the timing risk off the tenant and onto Rently's balance sheet, which is why the size of its credit line matters more than most product features. In Singapore and Hong Kong, where the upfront cheque is less of a fixture, the company's offer leans on rent rewards and flexible payment dates instead.

The company says it has processed more than AED 100 million in UAE rental contracts, with UAE transaction volume up more than fivefold year on year. Across its three markets it reports over $50 million in annualised rental volume and more than 2,400 tenants on the platform. Year-to-date rental volume is nearly three times the level of the same period in 2025.

Growth climbed quarter after quarter through a year of regional conflict, according to the company. It works with real estate agencies, co-living operators and property managers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including White & Co.

Taimur Khan, Rently's managing director for the Middle East, drew the contrast between how people are paid and how they pay for housing. "People in the UAE earn monthly," he said, yet many still settle a year of rent in a handful of cheques. He said the company onboards more tenants in a single quarter than it did in all of 2025, and that the facility lets Rently "say yes to many more tenants" as demand rises.

Jason Edwards, a partner in growth credit at January Capital, described the business as addressing "a real financing constraint for tenants" across rental markets. He said the investment reflected the firm's commitment to "flexible, non-dilutive credit solutions" for fast-growing Asia-Pacific companies, and that January Capital is pleased to partner with Rently in its next growth phase.

January Capital is a technology investor focused on high-growth companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Growth credit of this kind is lent against a company's own revenue trajectory rather than exchanged for equity, which suits a lender-style business where the binding constraint is the balance sheet available to fund contracts rather than the software behind them.

Mahajan said the credit gives Rently the capital to serve more tenants while equity funding stays focused on new products, technology and new markets. The company aims to triple the number of tenants it serves over the next 12 months, and to become the leading rental payments platform in each market where it operates.

The facility also strengthens Rently's capital stack ahead of an equity round. The company is preparing to raise $10 million to $15 million in Series A funding, with proceeds intended for new products and additional markets from 2027 onward. It previously raised $3 million in Pre-Series A funding from Hustle Fund, 5I Ventures, Woh Hup, Orvel, Orange Bloom and Feedback Ventures.

Rently was founded by Dominic Schacher, Tarik Stafford, Siebren Khamphorst and Emeric Martin. The company uses AI to accelerate growth and automate much of its operations, a lean operating model that matters for a business whose economics depend on processing volume rather than headcount.

The debt is non-dilutive, so the growth it buys does not come out of the equity the founders will price in the Series A. What that is worth depends on how many contracts Rently can now write. Flexi Rent gives Dubai tenants a monthly option with a regulator behind it. Rently's bet is that landlords will move faster if someone else carries the timing risk, and the $12 million is there to carry it.