NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An umbrella-sharing startup has launched in New York and hopes to add dozens of kiosks across the city over the next year, allowing people to grab umbrellas on the go.
Rentbrella operates like Citi Bike, with people using an app to rent and return umbrellas instead of lugging one from home or buying one from a street hawker on a rainy day.
The company currently has 3,500 umbrellas at 35 kiosks in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but it aims to have 100 stations in the city by early 2023, according to the New York Post.
“Our model is very simple” co-founder Freddy Marcos told the Post. “They take an umbrella, they go home, then the next day they return it.”
An umbrella is free for the first 24 hours. Users are then charged $2 on the second and third days before they have to pay $16—and get to keep the umbrella—on the fourth day.
To help generate a profit, Rentbrella also plans to have sponsors advertise on the umbrellas.
Eventually, the startup would like to have umbrellas in subway stations across all five boroughs.
Marcos said the model has worked for the company in São Paulo, Brazil, where it has 400 umbrella kiosks.
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