Bilt Rewards, a Recent York-based startup that operates a loyalty platform where users can earn points on rent payments, has greater than doubled its valuation to $3.1 billion – and added NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and former American Express CEO Kevin Chenault to its board.
Led by former Tinder executive Ankur Jain, the Recent York-based startup scored $200 million in its latest funding round led by investment firm General Catalyst, the corporate said Wednesday.
Eldridge, Left Lane Capital, Camber Creek and Prosus Ventures also participated within the round.
Bilt generates its revenue by serving because the payment processor for rental firm partners and by taking a cut of customer spending. The firm also has a branded Mastercard that enables users to rack up points on certain transactions.
Chenault, who is understood for helping to pioneer rewards programs at American Express, is joining Bilt as chairman of the board. He can be chairman and managing director at General Catalyst. Goodell is serving as an independent director.
“There’s no one on the planet who understands the sort of rewards platform, candidly, higher than Ken,” Jain said in an interview with The Post. “He built it with local merchants back within the day and now we get to create a version of that focused really on neighborhood and native due to our platform with the apartment buildings.”
Jain described the NFL as “the most important hometown loyalty company on the planet” and said Goodell could provide useful guidance on how Bilt can effectively tap “neighborhood pride and loyalty” while expanding its rewards program to local communities.
Bilt plans to use the freshly raised funds to fuel an ongoing “strategic expansion” of its “Neighborhood Rewards” program, which allows users to earn points and other advantages through transactions at local businesses.
Jain cited plans to expand the service to more restaurants in addition to grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies and occasional shops over time. Bilt can be eyeing further expansion into single-family and condo housing, in addition to a planned entrance into the mortgage market later this yr.
“Rental and mortgage payments eat 30% of household income on average within the US,” Chenault said in an announcement. “Bilt is transforming this market by empowering and rewarding renters and homeowners for his or her monthly payments and on a regular basis spend with local merchants.”
Goodell described Bilt as an innovator within the rewards space, empowering the subsequent generation to turn rent and expenses into unforgettable experiences.”
“I’m proud to join a board that shares the NFL’s values of hometown loyalty while innovating and delivering for its members,” the commissioner added.
The corporate is lively in all 50 states and has “tons of” of housing firms as partners, including greater than half of the highest 50 residential owners and operators, according to Jain. Members of its “rental alliance” include industry giants comparable to Related Firms, Starwood and Cushman & Wakefield.
Lower than two years after its debut, the startup is profitable, with nearly $20 billion in annual spending by its members. Bilt has about 125 employees and just isn’t planning to boost headcount during its expansion, Jain said.
While Bilt launched lower than three years ago, Jain said the concept behind the platform began percolating shortly after he stepped down as Tinder’s vice chairman of product in 2017.
The 33-year-old said he grew “so frustrated” by the variety of Silicon Valley startups that were focused on categories comparable to cryptocurrency, electric scooters or juice presses quite than the broader issues affecting the region, comparable to housing affordability.
“Now we have the largest housing affordability crises, healthcare crises, people can’t repay their student loans and individuals are wasting all their time on crypto and scooters,” Jain said. “Now we have to deal with the large challenges facing our generation. If we did that, my hypothesis was that those are the true trillion-dollar markets — not the shiny object of the moment.”