Yachts, Audis and other luxuries on rent for social media-crazy millennials

Hype, a Bengaluru-based start-up offers anything from designer bags to chartered planes on lease to niche, wealthy customers whose lifestyles don't follow the larger economy curve

Why order a cab when you can ride an Audi R8? Or hunt for a deal on a hotel room in Goa, when you can have a whole yacht to yourself for the weekend? The fast-talking, selfie-clicking millenials, who have fat disposable incomes are finding new ways of upping those ‘likes’ on their social media profiles. Welcome to the world of luxury on rent, where starting from a designer bag to a chartered airplane everything can be leased and experienced.

Cashing in on this trend are start-ups such as HYPE, a luxury mobility enterprise based in Bengaluru. With a vision to tap into the trillion-dollar global luxury market, HYPE was started in 2017 and is now operating in seven cities in the country with several partners and thousands of luxury cars in its fleet.

Founded by Raghav Belavadi and co-founded by Vijaya Belavadi, the siblings quickly ramped up their operations starting from Bengaluru to other cities such as Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

The company did not raise any initial seed funds and now directly aims to raise large capital to develop its own fleet with key partnerships from BMW and Mercedes India. While it started with renting out BMWs, Audis, Jaguars, Ford Mustangs, Rolls Royce and Porsche among other car brands, the company now plans to branch out into providing yachts and chartered aircrafts on rent.

Does this business model work in India?

According to Raghav Belavadi, it works like a charm. “Luxury industry offers a steady platform to customers and is not impacted much by the economy. The customers are in the niche segment and their lifestyles and choices don't follow the larger economy curve. Disrupting the connectivity between customers and the demand is the key innovation. We are aspiring to achieve that but it will not happen overnight like on demand cab services. Relationship is the key in the luxury segment and it takes time to build,” he said.

The company charges a commission attached to every booking. They also offer membership benefits to customers. People can rent luxury cars for self-drive or with chauffeur for a few hours or longer.

While not profitable at this stage, the company believes that its business lies in the sweet spot as a product that attracts millenial crowd and it would be able to break even soon. "We are an asset-light company and aggregate select cars with select vendors. Growth has been phenomenal for us with the increase in customer demand and customer base," he added.

Riding on the Instagram-crazy millennial

For Hype the target market is crystal clear -- it is the millennial crowd and people who have disposable income with an eye on elite lifestyle. Thanks to social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, among others, youngsters have become hungrier than ever for online fame and acceptance. Many go to great lengths, like getting pictures clicked with super cars, dining in ultra expensive restaurants, buying designer wear to stay relevant on social media.  

“Luxury is and will always be showoff, in a good sense. You are what you wear, what you ride and what you carry as yourself. Everyone longs to get identified among the un-commons, show everyone the transformation and display their loyalty towards an elite segment. Luxury is a motivation, a platform that everyone seeks to get onboard and Hype is the perfect platform in that journey,” added Raghav.

Yachts and airplanes next

According to Raghav, luxury industry in mobility space is not disrupted and offers no convenience to its elite community. “In fact, they are the most deprived in mobility space. There is more demand and very little supply which is lucrative enough to disrupt,” he adds.

According to Hype, India has huge demand for luxury cars, chartered jets and yachts but barely any players in this space who could cater to the needs of these customers.



“Yachts and chartered aircrafts are totally undisrupted in India but we have seen a huge demand. It offers more fun and value for money than even luxury cars. We have already on-boarded a few yachts in Goa and starting our operations in November. We have already received great demand for booking and looking forward to launching in other cities like Kerala,” Raghav said.