It’s becoming easier and easier to earn awards from everyday – or every month – transactions. Bilt, a fintech that enables renters to accrue points that can be redeemed for rewards, announced this week that it has raised $60 million in new funding. The investment, which included Mastercard and Wells Fargo among its chief contributors, gives the company a valuation of $350 million.
Launched earlier this summer, the company has since introduced its solution to more than two million rental units across the U.S. The company’s founder, Ankur Jain, said that Bilt is the first and only coalition of major property owners to offer this kind of solution and noted that “15 of the top 20 property owners” have become involved.
Also participating in the funding were some of the country’s biggest real estate companies including AvalonBay Communities, The Blackstone Group, Douglas Elliman, Equity Residential, GID-Winsor Communities, LENx, The Moinian Group, Morgan Properties, Starwood Capital Group, and Related.
Tenants can earn points by either renting from a member of the Bilt Rewards Alliance of more than two million rental homes or by making transactions using the Bilt Mastercard. Points can be used in a wide variety of ways, including travel, fitness club membership, paying rent, or even as part of a down payment to help pave the path to homeownership. Via the Bilt Mastercard, cardholders can earn up to 50,000 points a year toward rent, and earn an unlimited amount of points that can be used on other transactions.
Bilt sees major opportunity in a market that consists of approximately 109 million renters who pay an estimated $500 billion in rent every year. The company said that it will use the additional funding to help scale its loyalty program, giving more renters the opportunity to get something more than shelter from what is typically an individual’s “largest expense every single month,” according to Jain.
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