Bilt Rewards raises $150 million

Bilt Rewards, which operates a loyalty program and credit card that converts rent payments into points, announced a growth round of $150 million led by Left Lane Capital, with investment from Smash Capital, Wells Fargo, Greystar, Invitation Homes, Camber Creek, Fifth Wall, and Prosus Ventures. The new capital values Bilt Rewards at $1.5 billion.

Launched in June 2021 by Kairos HQ, a VC firm and accelerator building companies in housing and healthcare, Bilt Rewards operates both a loyalty program and a co-branded credit card. The Bilt Mastercard enables consumers to earn points on their rent payments with no transaction fees, “while also building a path to homeownership.” The Bilt Rewards loyalty program was developed in partnership with an alliance of the “nation’s largest real estate owners.”

The startup, which is led by Ankur Jain, the co-founder and chairman of Rhino, is now introducing Bilt Homes, a new home buying service “for renters, by renters”. Bilt Homes takes a member’s monthly rent payment and instantly shows them homes they can own for an equal monthly mortgage payment. The feature automatically factors in real-time interest rates, taxes, income, credit profile, and other personal data to determine mortgage qualification. Members can then use their Bilt points to help cover any downpayment and closing costs required to switch from renting to home ownership.

Bilt claims that it is profitable, counting over 500,000 active members.

Bottom Line: According to Prudential’s VC arm PruVen Capital, which is an investor in Bilt, Bilt is creating a consumer brand and developing a multi-product platform that will offer insurance, mortgages and more.