Renter rewards proptech Piñata has netted $13 million in a Series A round of financing after reporting year-over-year growth of 1100 percent, it was announced Monday.
The round puts the company’s total amount raised to date at $20 million after a seed round of $7 million. Piñata also reported a 600 percent increase in new users and a 300 percent jump in property management partners.
Leading the round was Wilshire Lane Capital, which invests heavily in real estate and proptech initiatives. Its founder and managing partner, Adam Demuyakor, will become a board member of Piñata.
Wilshire Lane was not alone in their admiration for Piñata’s business growth, as Ron Moelis, Chairman & Co-founder of affordable housing developer L+M Development Partners, also participated in the funding round.
The loyalty program app allows tenants to earn financial benefits for paying rent on time, in full, and for renewing their lease or referring friends to the property. Property owners in turn use the app to onboard tenants to the program, manage their involvement and connect with additional retail partners, who can offer products to incentivize renters.
A component of Piñata’s business model is the regular reporting of tenant’s on-time rental payments to credit rating agencies. It also offers opportunities for local discounts for everyday goods within tenants’ communities, all under the auspices of helping people become more financially secure.
“With 53 million Americans lacking a credit score, Piñata is fundamentally bridging the credit discrimination gap for a massive swath of the population,” the company said in a statement.
In addition to large apartment property owners, Piñata scales its services to serve mid-size and individual landlords, a section of the market that’s earning a great deal of attention from Wall Street.
Veev, a modular construction technology company, which builds multifamily, recently secured $400 million.
Inman reported on the launch of Baselane, a financial management solution for single-family landlords, one of many new technologies aimed at helping smaller property managers.
The Center for Real Estate Technology and Innovation (CRETI) reported that 20 percent of 2021’s total VC-backed investment in proptech—$32 billion—targeted multifamily, and that “tenant experience” is garnering the majority of investors’ attention.
“This is a heavy-hitting team of proptech and real estate experts,” said Lily Liu, co-founder and CEO of Piñata, in the press release about Wilshire Lane’s involvement. “Having their expertise at the table will only further our mission to reward millions of renters across the country and create a win-win-win model for renters, property management companies and businesses.”
