Velko
Water sports gear rental · Launching in Portugal
Rent great gear from local riders, schools and shops — or share yours. Velko is a peer-to-peer marketplace for kitesurf, surf, wing foil and SUP, built around trust: honest totals, separate deposits, and condition photos at every handover.
Built for
Water sports equipment is expensive, bulky and situational. Riders travel without the right kite or board for the conditions, while other riders have spare sizes that barely get wet. Schools and shops have gear to rent, but finding it means websites, WhatsApp and phone calls. Velko puts all of it on one map, bookable in minutes, with the trust built in that lending your own gear to a stranger needs.
01
Gear from riders, schools and shops, with the day price up front.
02
Price pins along the spots you ride, with a list view one tap away.
03
Sport-specific specs, condition and owner rating before you book.
04
Live availability and an honest total before checkout.
05
A map preview and editorial moments that keep the feed feeling like the beach.
On the inner display of iPhone Duo, Velko stops making you choose: the feed sits beside the coast, search results beside the map, the photos beside the specs. Folded, it is the same one-handed phone app, and what you were looking at carries across.
Gear from the local community on one side, the map it lives on fading in on the other.
Tap a pin to preview it, while the list stays one glance away.
Read the specs and the owner while the gear stays on screen.
Condition photos, clear deposits and transparent payouts matter more than urgency banners. Every flow in Velko is designed so both sides know exactly what they are agreeing to.
Price pins on the coast you ride, with a list view and filters for sport and dates. Browsing works without an account.
A kite is listed by size, a board by volume. The listing wizard asks only for what matters to that category and saves your draft as you go.
Rental total, deposit and owner payout are always separate lines. The deposit is held, never added to the rental price, and owners see their commission and exactly what they receive before they publish.
Guided photo checks at pickup and return. A handover only completes once the evidence has uploaded, so both sides share the same record.
Real-time chat for every booking, with the rental pinned to the top of the conversation, so pickup times do not get lost.
A dashboard for rental fleets: today’s pickups and returns, active rentals, estimated payout and what needs attention.
Renting
The right gear for the conditions
Lending
Earn from the gear you’re not using
Schools & shops
Your fleet, in front of local riders
That spare kite, the board that only comes out in big swell, the SUPs stacked at the back of the school: most gear spends more days dry than wet. Velko puts it in front of riders searching the coast you’re on, so it earns while you’re not using it. Listing is free, there’s no subscription, and Velko only takes a commission when a rental goes ahead — you see exactly what you’ll receive before you publish. We’re onboarding the first riders, schools and shops in Portugal ahead of launch.
Riders
Spare kite, board or foil?
Schools & shops
Put your rental fleet on the map
Every owner starts as a Standard Partner at 12%. Rental businesses, schools, clubs and early partners can apply for a reduced rate. Renters pay the price shown — no service fee on top. Until the new pricing model activates, every owner pays the current 8% commission.Already-confirmed bookings keep their original commission. The new rates apply to future bookings after activation. See eligibility and fee details.
Standard Partners
Default for every owner
12% commission
€100 rentalyou receive €88
Volume Partners
By approval
10% commission
€100 rentalyou receive €90
Founding Partners
Open to new owners · by approval
8% commission
€100 rentalyou receive €92
The commission is everything Velko takes from you: any VAT due is included, and Stripe’s card processing fees are paid by Velko out of its commission. Payouts reach your bank on Stripe’s payout schedule. Volume and Founding rates are by approval; Founding Partner eligibility and duration follow the published programme terms. See the Terms, section 6.
Every owner starts as a Standard Partner, at 12% of the rental price. Volume Partners pay 10% and Founding Partners 8%; both are by approval. Your rate and exactly what you’ll receive are shown before you publish a listing and on every booking. On a €100 rental, a Standard Partner receives €88, a Volume Partner €90 and a Founding Partner €92.
Yes. Listing your equipment costs nothing and there is no subscription. Velko only earns its commission when a rental goes ahead.
Only when a rental goes ahead. The renter’s card is authorised when they send a request and charged when you accept it; Velko’s commission is deducted from that payment before your share is paid out. If the renter ends up with a full refund, Velko gives back its commission too, so you pay nothing on that rental.
Through Stripe Connect. Set up payouts in Profile → Payments & payouts; you need this before you can accept a booking. Your share of each rental is paid to your Stripe account when you accept the booking, and Stripe pays it out to your bank on Stripe’s payout schedule. Stripe’s card processing fees are paid by Velko out of its commission, not by you.
A renter can cancel a request for free before you accept it. After you accept, the renter gets a full refund if they cancel up to 48 hours before pickup, and no refund after that. If you cancel, the renter always gets a full refund. Whenever the renter gets a full refund, Velko gives back its commission, so you pay nothing on that rental.
No. Renters pay the price shown before they book, with no service fee on top. If a listing has a deposit, it is held on the renter’s card, not charged, unless there is a damage claim.
Email hey@davidferreira.dev with a few words about you and your gear, and Velko will review it. The Volume Partner rate is for qualified high-volume partners such as rental businesses, schools, clubs and frequent equipment owners. The Founding Partner programme is open to new owners, by approval, and owners who already list on Velko keep 8% as Founding Partners. Its eligibility and duration are set by the published programme terms. Until a tier is approved, you are on the Standard rate.
Existing owners with at least one published listing or a booking as owner before the activation cutoff qualify for Founding Partner commission. This applies to private owners, schools and shops. Accounts with only drafts and no bookings default to Standard. Founding Partner applications are open to eligible early partners, including owners joining the Ericeira and Peniche launch. New owners default to Standard; the 8% rate requires approval from Velko.
Until the new pricing model activates, every owner pays the current 8% commission. Already-confirmed bookings keep their original commission. The new rates apply to future bookings after activation. The rate for each booking is fixed when it is made and shown before you accept it.
Yes. The percentage is everything Velko takes from you: any VAT due on Velko’s commission is included in it. You remain responsible for any taxes due on what you earn.
More questions about renting, deposits or handovers? See Support.
Velko is a product by David Ferreira — the SwiftUI app and its design system, the Supabase schema and edge functions that own pricing and booking state, and the Stripe payment, deposit and payout flows.
Velko is launching in Portugal on iPhone and Android. If you run a school or shop, have gear to share, or want to talk about building something similar, I’d like to hear from you.
