Teachers’ Venture Growth backs Bilt Rewards

Loyalty program Bilt Rewards has announced an additional $150 million in funding, led by Teachers’ Venture Growth , the late-stage venture and growth investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Existing investors and new endowments, including Vanderbilt University Endowment and the University of Illinois Foundation, also participated. This follows Bilt’s $200 million raise in January, which valued the company at $3.1 billion, bringing the total raised to over $700 million to date.

Bilt’s loyalty program has expanded beyond neighborhood loyalty and now features over 21,000 restaurants and 3,500 fitness studios.

This funding news comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal article detailing Wells Fargo’s financial struggles with the Bilt Rewards program. Wells Fargo, which launched the credit card in partnership with Bilt and is also an investor, is reportedly losing up to $10 million monthly. The bank’s initial revenue projections, including the expectation that 65% of card purchase volume would be non-rent, generating interchange fees, have proven inaccurate. Instead, most card usage is rent-related. Additionally, the expected interest revenue from cardholders carrying balances has fallen short, with only 15%-25% of dollars charged carrying over from month to month, compared to the anticipated 50%-75%.

Wells Fargo pays Bilt $200 for each new card account, and more than one million accounts were activated in the first 18 months. The bank has informed Bilt that it does not intend to renew the contract, set to end in 2029, unless the terms are adjusted in its favor.