Equipment Rental Platform Big Rentals Raises $2.8 Million
Big Rentals, a Los Angeles-based equipment rental platform, announced it has raised $2.8 million in seed funding. The round was led by SNAK Venture Partners with participation from Ironspring Ventures, Forum Ventures, Jason Calcanis’ Launch Fund and NuFund Venture Group.
The funding will accelerate Big Rentals' expansion into the construction and heavy equipment segment, building traction in the category through its nationwide partner network. It will also support continued development of HQRent.com, the company's AI-powered software that helps independent rental businesses run online by managing bookings, payments, and fleet operations in one place.
"For too long, local rental companies and small business owners have had to stitch together outdated tools, paper, and spreadsheets," said Pablo Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of Big Rentals. "We put the same technology used by national chains into the hands of independent operators, making it easy and affordable for anyone to start and scale a professional rental business."
Founded in 2023, Big Rentals is a dual-sided platform that combines a national rental marketplace with modern operating software for independent equipment owners. Rental businesses use Big Rentals to automate scheduling, payments, and inventory, replacing legacy workflows with streamlined, digital operations. The marketplace brings new demand directly to local operators, driving higher utilization and unlocking new revenue opportunities across the U.S.
"Big Rentals is transforming an overlooked yet essential backbone of our economy. Pablo and the team are building a category-defining marketplace, and we're thrilled to back a founder who combines deep industry insight with a software-first mindset," said Sonia Nagar, co-founder of SNAK Venture Partners. Nagar, who will join the Big Rentals board, brings extensive experience scaling leading marketplaces including BacklotCars and Sittercity, with investments in Machinery Partner, Cameo, and Coinbase at Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
“Big Rentals is positioned to unify the fragmented long tail of suppliers and capture the next decade of growth with a technology-first platform built for small businesses,” the company said in a press release, pointing to increased manufacturing investment, large manufacturing projects, and a nationwide data center boom. The company added that U.S. manufacturing construction is at $223 billion, and data center construction hit a $40 billion annual run rate this year, up by 30 percent.
The company was founded in 2023 and has headquarters in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tenn.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.