lease-to-own
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Koalafi and the price of yes
A declined credit application can end a sale. Koalafi built a business around what happens next - and the distance between getting approved and owning what you bought.
FlexShopper: the price of paying later
FlexShopper moved rent-to-own into the online shopping cart. Its journey through a financing crisis and an asset sale reveals the delicate business behind a small recurring payment.
The $500 Furniture Bet That Turned "No Credit" Into a Two-Billion-Dollar Business
For 70 years Aaron's has made the same wager: that millions of Americans want a couch, a fridge or a big-screen TV today, and will pay weekly to own it - no credit score required.
The Ohio Firm That Bought a 1,200-Store Retailer to Feed Its Algorithms
Most investment firms buy a stake and hope. IQVentures buys the whole company, plugs in its own payment rails and risk models, and runs it - a bet that grew into a $504 million take-private of a national retailer.
The Chilean Freight Company That Hands Its Drivers the Keys to the Truck
RockTruck moved 1.7 million last-mile deliveries with a fleet it mostly does not own - then sold 70% of the company to a gas giant. Here is how the collaborative model actually works.
Kafene
Kafene is a New York-based fintech that gives retailers a point-of-sale lease-to-own option for shoppers who get turned away by traditional credit. Using a machine-learning model that weighs more than 20,000 data points, Kafene approves customers in seconds for purchases up to about $5,000 - furniture, appliances, electronics, tires - then lets them lease the item and either pay it off to own it or return it without penalty. It positions itself as a transparent, debt-free alternative to buy-now-pay-later for the roughly 100 million Americans with limited or no prime credit.
withco
withco is a New York-based property ownership platform on a mission to help small business owners buy the buildings they already work in. Using a lease-to-own model, withco buys commercial real estate alongside high-quality small business owners and transitions them to full ownership over the course of a standard lease term - turning rent payments into a path toward equity and protecting local businesses from displacement.