med4rent—Medical & Lab Equipment Subscription—Powered by circuly

med4rent is a Germany-based eCommerce startup that set out to solve a problem hiding in plain sight: medical devices are discarded or stored unused far too quickly — not because they've stopped working, but because traditional ownership models don't match the realities of how practices and patients actually use them.

Founded in 2023, med4rent created something that hadn't existed before: a dedicated medical equipment rental and subscription platform built for eCommerce. Customers, from individual patients to clinics and laboratories, can access 34 categories of state-of-the-art devices through flexible rental subscriptions, without capital investment, without complexity, and without waste.

But building a first-of-its-kind model requires more than a good idea. It requires the right partner stack.

Business Model

med4rent operates a Medical Device as a Service (MDaaS) model: making premium medical equipment accessible through subscription-based rentals rather than one-time purchases.

"Medical devices often have a shockingly short lifespan. Currently, in Europe, many medical devices end up in the trash after only a short period of use or are left unused, and new ones are purchased. We want to change that." — Michael Heine, Managing Director, med4rent

How the model works:

• Product: Medical devices across 34 categories, including individual devices from leading brands and complete specialty-specific equipment sets.
• Rental duration: Fixed contracts up to 24 months, ending automatically at term.
• Start date: Customers choose their own start date — flexibility is built in from day one.
• Support included: Detailed setup instructions, ongoing technical support, and a free replacement device if a device malfunctions during the rental period.
• Returns: At the end of the rental term, customers receive a reusable shipping box to return the device free of charge.
• Target customers: B2C patients and B2B medical practices, clinics, and laboratories.

By keeping the device in productive circulation, across multiple customers and rental cycles, med4rent applies circular economy principles to a sector that urgently needs them.

The Vision: First-Mover in Medical Equipment Innovation

The medical sector is undergoing rapid change, and med4rent positioned itself to capture the opportunity:

#1. Generational shift underway.

Medical practices across Germany are transitioning between generations. Incoming owners face critical investment decisions about modern technology — and many can't justify large capital outlays for equipment that will soon be outdated.

#2. Investors buying practices.

A growing number of investors are acquiring multiple medical practices but face the same dilemma: continuously invest in new equipment, or continue using outdated devices that no longer reflect the standard of care.

#3. Equipment waste.

Devices that are used briefly and then discarded or stored represent both a financial and environmental failure. med4rent's circular model keeps every device in use for as long as possible, then refurbishes and recirculates it.

For med4rent, it was critical to innovate rapidly and gain first-mover advantage. The opportunity was clear — but executing on it required the right foundations.

The Approach: Finding the Right Partners

Transitioning a sector from linear to circular is a significant challenge. It requires innovation, dedication, and the right partnerships. med4rent built on three specialist partners:

dotfly — Agency for brand & strategy: crafted the brand identity, UI/UX design, and strategic foundation for a successful circular business model. Their work ensured that the user experience was engaging, intuitive, and aligned with the brand's values.

circuly — Subscription management software: powered the operational backbone of the model — enabling flexible subscriptions, automated returns, and seamless subscription management so that med4rent could bring the concept to life without building custom infrastructure.

Shopware — eCommerce foundation: provided the robust, headless shop system with the expandability needed to integrate circuly cleanly and scale the subscription business for physical products flexibly.

Operations Where circuly Supports med4rent

circuly is the subscription management system behind med4rent, automating the core infrastructure needed to run a subscription-based business model for physical products such as medical device rentals.

Out-of-the-box, circuly handles subscription management, recurring billing and invoicing, asset tracking, product lifecycle management, return management. The customer self-service portal covers the customer journey and management of subscriptions, and the automated email templates cover transactional communication for operations such as order placement, subscription start, and monthly billing — allowing the med4rent team to focus on growth rather than manual admin.

#1 An eCommerce-grade rental checkout — no clunky forms

circuly's white-label cart and checkout solution made it possible for med4rent to offer an eCommerce-like rental journey inside their Shopware store. Customers can select a device, choose a rental duration, and complete checkout in a flow that feels like standard online shopping — not a legacy leasing form.

#2 Automated operations and workflows that facilitate scalability

With circuly, med4rent moved away from manual processes and launched on a scalable operational foundation from day one. circuly automates:

• ✅ Billing & invoicing for recurring rental fees
• ✅ Transactional customer communication (confirmations, reminders, return instructions)
• ✅ Custom and automated flows for renewals and cancellations
• ✅ Fixed 24-month contract terms with automatic end-of-term handling

#3 Customer self-service portal

Customers manage their own subscriptions through a dedicated self-service portal. They choose their own contract start date, view their rental status, report device issues, and initiate returns — all without contacting support. This keeps med4rent operationally lean while giving customers full transparency and control over their subscription lifecycle.

#4 360° subscription overview

Through circuly's API-enabled connection with Shopware and the payment service provider, med4rent has a complete operational overview of every subscription, customer, product, and payment — in one place:

• ✅ Real-time subscription KPIs to track business growth
• ✅ Easy export of a wide variety of data points for data-driven decision-making
• ✅ Full device lifecycle visibility to support refurbishment and reuse cycles as part of a circular logistics model

"We have developed a revolutionary new business model. With this groundbreaking solution, we are avoiding the dilemma that many medical devices quickly become outdated or are simply too expensive to purchase. With great partners on equal terms, this is a lot of fun!" — Michael Heine, Managing Director, med4rent

Conclusion

med4rent didn't just launch a rental shop — they created a new category: the world's first dedicated eCommerce platform for medical equipment as a service. By partnering with circuly for subscription operations, dotfly for brand and UX, and Shopware for eCommerce infrastructure, they built a circular model that makes state-of-the-art medical technology accessible to practices and patients without the burden of ownership.

The result is a future-ready Medical Device as a Service business — operationally automated, customer-centric, and built for a medical sector that is ready to change.