Grace Ashiru
South African subscription retailer Rentoza has filed for voluntary business rescue, unable to raise fresh capital, settle its debts, or complete two years of overdue financial audits. The company confirmed the move on 1 July 2026, publishing supporting documents on its website.
Rentoza built its business on letting customers subscribe to smartphones, laptops, appliances, baby products, and fitness gear rather than buying them outright — an asset-light alternative to ownership aimed at cost-conscious South African consumers. Since its founding, the company had pulled in a total of $7.3 million from backers including the Mineworkers Investment Company, Alitheia IDF, the Vumela Fund, and Startupbootcamp AfriTech.
Business rescue practitioner Mpoti Moalusi has taken charge of the restructuring process. He held an initial meeting with creditors and staff on 17 July, and a formal rescue plan is expected by 4 September. Rentoza says it will keep trading as usual while that plan comes together.
The filing caps roughly a year of visible strain at the company. Customers had increasingly complained about slow refunds and delayed deliveries, and Rentoza had gone as far as publicly soliciting legal help to accelerate debt collection — a sign that unpaid customer balances were piling up on its books.
Founded in 2017 by Avinesh Reddy, Aviraag Ramdhani, Chris Govender, and Mishaan Ratan, Rentoza started life as a peer-to-peer marketplace linking third-party suppliers with short-term renters. Margin pressure and supplier friction pushed it toward a rent-to-own format, and later into the subscription model it runs today. At its high point, the company had roughly 14,000 active subscriptions across South Africa.
Business rescue is a formal South African legal mechanism that temporarily shields distressed companies from creditor lawsuits while a practitioner works out whether the business can be saved or should be wound down in an orderly way. As part of the process, Rentoza has opened a claims window for creditors to file outstanding debts. The stabilization plan on the table involves restructuring the balance sheet, negotiating settlements with major creditors, and finding a strategic partner or buyer to recapitalize the business.
