It’s confirmed that Kleiner Perkins has led the Series C funding of Chegg, along with Foundation Capital.

From the comments on the TechCrunch post, it looks like there’s an increasing flow of rental fans especially when you can see the tangible benefit and savings.

Chegg also issued a press release around saving students $16 million in 2008:

Students Saved Over $16 Million Renting Textbooks From Chegg.com in 2008

Chegg.com, The Online Textbook Rental Leader, Reports Record Growth

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Number one online textbook rental company, Chegg.com, has seen record growth in 2008 as the company continues to provide college students with a money saving alternative to buying textbooks. In 2008 alone, the student population saved over $16 million renting textbooks from Chegg.com. As demand for cheaper textbooks grows, more and more college students are flocking to Chegg.com, which is available at over 4,000 university campuses nationwide. Students from every state and more than 10,000 cities have rented from Chegg.com.

“Students are knocking down our door to use the Chegg.com service,” said Osman Rashid, Chegg.com CEO. “The demand is greater than ever. Students are learning that they don’t have to pay full price to buy textbooks they only need for four months. Now they are saving up to $650 a semester renting textbooks with Chegg.com.”

Chegg.com allows college students to rent as many textbooks as they like with just a few clicks, quickly delivering them straight to students’ doors. By renting textbooks through Chegg.com, students can save 65-85% or $650 per semester on their textbook bills. With fast delivery, free return shipping, and live customer service, Chegg.com is the number one way for students to save money and save the environment. In addition to helping students save money each school year, Chegg.com also keeps the environment top of mind by planting a tree for every textbook rented. Chegg.com has successfully planted 150+ city blocks of trees and is expecting to significantly increase that number during the next planting seasons.

“Chegg has allowed me to save money each semester,” said Alyssa Mora of Purdue University. “Being able to keep more money in my wallet is a huge value to me. Saving money on textbooks through Chegg.com allows me to put more money towards other college needs.”

Press release regarding the funding:

Chegg.com, the number one textbook rental company, today announced that it has received $25 million in Series C funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Foundation Capital and existing investors Gabriel Venture Partners and Primera Capital. The additional financing is part of an aggressive growth strategy for building the textbook rental market and Chegg.com’s position as the number one brand.   The financing will be used to grow the site to provide superior service to students, increase the textbook rental catalog and expand leadership in the textbook rental market.

“Chegg.com is executing its strategy to save students millions of dollars a year with online textbook rentals,” said Osman Rashid, CEO and co-founder of Chegg.com.  “With this funding Chegg.com will be able to reach even more students, with more books and more money saving services.  We are proud to welcome KPCB and Foundation Capital to our team.”

Chegg.com allows college students to rent as many textbooks as they like with just a few clicks, delivering them straight to students’ doors. By renting textbooks through Chegg.com, students can save up to 80 percent or $650 per semester on their textbook bills. The online option also eliminates time spent waiting in lines at the bookstores. Students also have the ability to buy, not just rent, textbooks over Chegg.com and know at the time of purchase the exact amount of cash they will receive at the end of the semester if they so choose to sell the book back to Chegg.com.

Chegg.com has helped students save millions of dollars on textbooks and in July, Chegg.com celebrated its first anniversary of the textbook rental company. In addition to helping students save money each school year, Chegg.com also keeps the environment top of mind by planting a tree for every textbook rented.  Chegg.com has successfully planted 150 plus city blocks of trees and is expecting to significantly increase that number during the next planting seasons.

“We believe there is strong potential for growth and success for the textbook rental market as parents and students look for new ways to save on the costs of a higher education,” said Ted Schlein at KPCB. “We look forward to working with Chegg.com to drive forward the company’s leadership in the market.

“As an original venture investor in Chegg.com, Gabriel Venture Partners realized early on that the company had a disruptive, forward-thinking business model that would propel it to market leadership,” said Rick Bolander, managing partner at Gabriel Venture Partners. “The capital-efficient and disruptive nature of Chegg.com’s model has already translated into impressive revenue growth, and we look forward to continuing to work hand-in-hand with the management team to extend that growth over the coming quarters.”

About Chegg.com

Chegg.com is the number one textbook rental company. Chegg.com founded in 2005, launched its textbook rental service in July 2007, Chegg.com has saved students at 4,000 plus campuses nationwide, millions of dollars.  With over 1 million books to choose from, Chegg.com makes renting and returning textbooks as easy as a click of a mouse.  On top of added savings, Chegg.com will plant a tree for every book rented.  To date Chegg.com has funded over 150 plus city blocks of trees.  For more on Chegg.com, log on to www.Chegg.com.

Congrats both Chegg and investors!

I was recently hit and surprised with $30 in baggage fees traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday for a single, small luggage bag. Learn my lesson not to forget the small print with all the changes in airline travel fees, otherwise you might not be getting the great airfare deal you thought you were.

Now the LA Times reports on ski equipment hitting travelers with fees that add up fast, possibly adding up to $80 for the round trip. Some airlines treat skis and boots as separate bags, compounding the problem. Numerous alternative delivery options are given, but this presents another opportunity to rent instead of buy. Jennifer Rudolph of Colorado Ski Country USA says that a recent trend is to just bring your boots, and rent at your destination.

As with many things rental, it may just come down to your attachment to and how satisfied you are with your current equipment. With all the added fees, it might just be more convenient and effective to rent at your destination instead of lugging your long K2s through LAX or JFK.

It might also be a great opportunity to try out some of the latest ski equipment, saving on some exorbitant baggage fees in the meantime.

Both Search and Discovery are very important to us at iLetYou.

Search is Google.  It’s when you know what you want.  Cool new search engines, like Livekick just today for concert tickets, pop up regularly - and we enjoy being a part of this goal of organizing the world’s information.

iLetYou matches your search with exactly what you’re looking to rent and where, getting you quickly to a great rental store who can meet your needs.

Discovery is Kosmix, as described by its CEO.  Take a moment to wander around iLetYou - I promise you’ll be surprised. Discovery is important to iLetYou because of the many products available for rent, most people simply aren’t aware of the options available to them.  Start with a desire to enjoy great things, without the cost and burden of ownership, and see where this concept takes you.

iLetYou might arrange results around an event, such as a wedding, or use categories or tags to further organize information.

There are always new products popping up for rent.  Some you may already know about, but some are new and innovative ways to share.  You can always check out Newly Added Stores (how about Grosh Scenic Rentals, for one?).

We hope you enjoy just perusing what’s for rent at iLetYou.  In addition to improving the iLetYou interface based on your feedback, we’re constantly growing and refining the widest selection of rental products available.  Look out in 2009!

As we do this, we need your help.  Your feedback is immensely important to us, so please let us know how we can make your visit to iLetYou that much more productive and FUN finding and discovering things known and unknown for rent.

Happy holidays!

With Connect by Hertz, car rental company Hertz takes on Zipcar directly in the consumer car sharing market.  Enterprise launched WeCar earlier this year, but seemingly has a more business-to-business focus.

Zipcar coined the term car sharing.  Is there really a difference between car sharing and car rental?

Zipcar’s CEO Scott Griffith seems to think so.  He mentions that Hertz is a car rental company, whereas Zipcar has been in the car sharing market for 8 years.

Mr. Griffith is absolutely right.  The dynamics of the market are very much different.  The magic of Zipcar is instant access, and that takes technology infrastructure and the time it takes to perfect such a system.  Rent by the hour is worthless if it takes 30 minutes (or even 10 minutes) to process your order.

However, the object of the broad terms of sharing and rental are exactly the same.  Transfer ownership into enjoyment.  Eliminate waste and excessive consumption in the process, exactly why Zipcar was started in the first place.

Where “rental” really morphs into “sharing” is when you can realistically replace ownership.  The friction of a rental also has to be removed.  More instant enjoyment of services only when you need it, less headache to do so.  That’s where the real power, and honestly the real potential, lies.

I’ll be checking out much more of Zipcar and other green, sustainable sharing services and will be blogging further about the experience.

To Rent or Buy? A great question the Washington Post asks for Thanksgiving. Some good advice:

• You can often stick to a single store to simplify your rental experience. (Results on iLetYou are arranged by Store.)
• Round tables can more fit people. (You learn something new every day!)
• Rent a coffee maker to stock up on coffee, instead of continually brewing with an 8-cup coffee maker. (You can find coffee makers, more beverage serving equipment you might need, or even a bar or margarita machine at iLetYou.)
• Disposable china may be just as good as the real thing. If you’re going to buy, make sure you go recyclable and keep it green!

Have a great Thanksgiving with these great tips!

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