KWIPPED Inc., an online B2B equipment rental marketplace, received funding from VentureSouth, an early stage investment firm, in December. The investment makes VentureSouth the lead investor in KWIPPED's $1-million Series A round, increasing KWIPPED's total capital raised to more than $700,000.
Greater Wilmington (NC) Business Journal owners Robert Preville and Rob Kaiser are part owners of KWIPPED. Preville is also KWIPPED's founder and CEO, and Kaiser is on the company's board of directors.
“We're thrilled to have an investment partner with the experience, reputation and track record of VentureSouth. The ability to tap into the expertise and knowledge of its members will be invaluable as we scale and grow our business,” Preville said in a news release.
KWIPPED's online platform facilitates equipment rentals between businesses and organizations that need to rent specialized commercial equipment and suppliers that have equipment inventory available to rent. KWIPPED offers rentals in more than 500 equipment categories across 22 different industries and has over $55 million in assets available for rent for applications including: medical and laboratory, audio-visual, construction, surveying, film production, power utility and many more, according to the release.
“We plan to leverage the funds to substantially expand our marketing efforts, and to add sales and technology employees. The investment also enabled us to lease some much needed office space to accommodate our growing staff,” Preville said in the release.
