Lensrentals, a titan within the on-line rental service for photograph, video, audio and lighting gear, has introduced its acquisition of BorrowLenses, a key competitor within the area of photographic and video gear leases, TechCrunch has discovered completely. It’s a aggressive area in a commodity market, the place neither model has an apparent edge over the opposite. Neither firm is keen to touch upon the phrases of the deal, however a supply accustomed to the deal suggests that is probably an all-cash acquisition.
BorrowLenses, in flip, has had an fascinating journey. The corporate was acquired by Shutterfly a couple of decade in the past. Shutterfly was public on the time, however was since acquired by Apollo — sure, the identical Apollo that purchased Yahoo, which owns TechCrunch — again in 2021.
Based in 2006, through the years Lensrentals acquired the sting over BorrowLenses, each by way of variety of workers and total variety of clients. Working from its headquarters in Tennessee, Lensrentals has cultivated a popularity for being a great place to work (the corporate is largely owned by its staff), and that takes care of its clients properly.
Tyler Beckman, CEO of Lensrentals, tells TechCrunch that his firm has seen BorrowLenses as “friendly rivals” that “push each other to excel,” and that the corporate sees the acquisition as a chance to lean into the advantages of working at higher scale.
“When you put ownership in the hands of employees, good things happen for customers. We look forward to all BorrowLenses customers getting to experience what I mean by that,” says Beckman.
It’s not but clear what the acquisition means to the job safety for the workers at BorrowLenses, nor the San Carlos location itself. A supply accustomed to the deal says that the acquisition is occurring in a short time, and that the Lensrentals group is evaluating the viability of protecting the staff and the situation as the method unfolds.
BorrowLenses has a broad number of gear — a supply on the firm says that its property have to be built-in into Lensrentals’ present stock of greater than 400,000 rentable gadgets throughout greater than 6,000 totally different lenses, cameras, drones, lighting, audio and studio gear — which has enabled it to compete with native digicam rental operations. Quick nationwide delivery and complete insurance coverage gave the corporate an edge over usually poorly run mom-and-pop digicam rental retailers.
The corporate additionally launched the Lensrentals Keeper Program, which, with the casual slogan “if you like it, keep it,” allows clients to buy gear they’ve rented at a lowered value. Photographers have embraced this system as a low threat to purchase secondhand gear: Do a couple of shoots with the lens, and if it really works properly, they purchase it at a steep low cost. It’s not unattainable that the newly merged firm will begin liquidating extra gear, so now could be the time to maintain an eye fixed out for good gives.
Just like Lensrentals, BorrowLenses boasts an intensive stock. The principle distinction between the businesses is their geographic footprints. BorrowLenses has established a powerful presence in sure areas, complementing Lensrentals’ nationwide attain. This localized strategy — for some cause it’s extra reassuring if a lens get shipped a couple of hundred miles than hundreds of miles throughout the nation — has enabled BorrowLenses to domesticate shut relationships with its buyer base.
Over time, BorrowLenses has additionally positioned a powerful emphasis on academic content material, providing suggestions, tutorials and guides designed to assist clients benefit from their rental expertise. This deal with training and help has not solely enhanced the client expertise however has additionally positioned BorrowLenses as a thought chief within the artistic business, dedicated to empowering photographers and videographers in any respect ability ranges.
In some ways, the acquisition represents an apparent one: Two corporations which can be so related that they’re laborious to maintain aside assist increase one another with small, incremental enhancements in localized presence and academic initiatives.
In fact, Beckman informed TechCrunch that Lensrentals was saved on its toes by the competitors from BorrowLenses. In principle, the client wins when a single, monolithic firm can reap the advantages of working at a higher scale. In observe, it stays to be seen if the costs will keep the identical and the bigger firm will be capable to retain its personal-touch popularity when that aspect of pleasant rivalry is eliminated.