A new company is looking to do for B2B hardware sales what a growing number of companies have been doing in the consumer sphere, by making it easier for businesses to pay for equipment in instalments through rentals and subscriptions.While companies such as Klarna and Affirm have been pushing payment services that help consumers procure goods without having to pay for everything up front, Berlin-based startup Topi launched out of stealth last December with $4.5 million in funding to do something similar for B2B transactions. At the time, Topi was somewhat vague in terms of what its actual product would be, but the company today announced its first product in partnership with German electronics retailer Gravis, and unveiled a fresh $45 million in equity and debt financing. Hardware-as-a-serviceAt its most basic level, Topi is selling a hardware-as-a-service business model, allowing merchants to rent out their equipment such as smartphones, printers, PC monitors, coffee machines, robotic arms, or whatever industry-specific machinery they specialize in. Additionally, while the Topi branding is prominent at checkout with the inaugural product, the company said that it plans to offer a white-labeled version that allows businesses to include their own logo. Pallua previous worked as a strategy and business development manager at Apple in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she led a team tasked with exploring the feasibility of hardware subscriptions — Apple has yet to launch such a service, but reports continue to surface that the Cupertino company is still looking to bolster its recurring revenue via such subscriptions.