Why Startups in Mumbai and Bengaluru Are Choosing Laptop Rentals Over Buying

Startups in Mumbai and Bengaluru move fast. One week it’s two people in a co-working space with an idea, the next week it’s ten people preparing for your MVP and client demos. In this kind of environment, speed and flexibility matter more than owning expensive gadgets. That’s why so many young companies now choose to rent laptops in Bengaluru and Mumbai instead of buying them outright.

If you’re building a business in either city, you’ve probably faced the same decision: should you buy laptops for your team, or should you rent them? Until a few years ago, buying felt like the natural choice. You invest in devices, you own them, and you use them until they’re outdated. But now, more founders are realising that ownership can be an upfront capex burn.

India is now home to more than 175,000 recognised startups, with around 22,000 new ventures added in 2025 alone, according to DPIIT data. Bengaluru remains the country’s funding leader, pulling in over $2.5 billion in just the first half of 2025. Mumbai follows closely, with 9,000+ startups driving growth in fintech, media, and creative sectors

In Mumbai, the startup scene is full of creative agencies, fintech innovators, and media houses. Many of them work on project-based timelines where workloads spike suddenly. Imagine hiring a five-member video editing team for a campaign that runs for only three months. Buying high-performance laptops or MacBooks for such a short period makes no sense, it’s a heavy upfront cost for equipment that might sit idle later. Renting means you get the exact machines you need for exactly as long as you need them. For design-heavy or video-editing work, many agencies now rent gaming PC set ups in Mumbai so their team can work on top-spec machines without the huge investment and return when required.

Bengaluru’s story is similar but with its own twist. Here, startups are often tech-heavy, SaaS and AI companies. In the early stage, a founder might bring on project based developers for a short sprint or expand the team for a release. Buying laptops for temporary scale-ups can burn through budgets. Rentals solve this problem. You can get Macbooks or laptops delivered quickly, let the team use them till it's required by renting a macbook in Bengaluru.

Cash flow is another big factor. Startups in both cities often run lean. Every rupee saved on these expensive gadgets can go into product development, business, marketing, or talent acquisition. Instead of locking lakhs into buying laptops, founders can keep that capital free for things that directly push the business forward.

Technology moves fast too. In the last five years, laptop performance, battery life, and display quality have improved massively. If you buy today, you’re stuck with the same machine for three to five years, even if better tools arrive next year. Renting keeps you flexible , you can upgrade to the latest MacBook Pro or a i7 Windows laptop whenever the project demands it. .

Then there’s maintenance. When you own laptops, every hardware issue is your responsibility. That means spending time dealing with service centres, warranty claims, and repairs. With a rental partner like Rentkar, the responsibility shifts — if something goes wrong, you get a replacement quickly, keeping your team’s work uninterrupted. That peace of mind matters when deadlines are tight.

For co-working spaces and collaborative teams, rentals also make onboarding simple. A new hire can walk in, get their laptop, and start working the same day. No procurement delays, no productivity loss. And when someone leaves, you just return the device, no unused assets sitting.

For many founders, saying bye to buying laptops or gadgets isn’t just a smart financial decision, it's a sensible choice. And in cities where the competition is fierce and timelines are short, that financial choice can be the difference between surviving and leading the market.