CHARLOTTE – Startup Rent Ready has closed a $10 million Series A investment that is being led by Grotech Ventures with participation from prior investors, including CreativeCo Capital, and six new investors.
The capital will position the company, which is a business-to-business services platform used in the multi-family apartment industry to efficiently turnover apartments when they’re vacated by residents, to scale geographically beyond the current markets of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Atlanta, Rent Ready said. The company expects to use a portion of the capital to invest in its technology and to expand the team, and already has five positions listed on its website.
Under the terms of the deal, Grotech partner Don Rainey is joining the board.
“We seek creative and driven entrepreneurs building high-potential technology companies in sectors we know well,” said Rainey in a statement. Grotech has previously invested in Petscreening, a services platform for the multi-family industry, the online marketplace Living Social, and Payzer, a software for service providers.
“We saw the trifecta potential of Rent Ready as it essentially combines all three concepts in one,” he added. “The fact that they have a proven model, yet are applying it in a way that none of their competitors are, is exactly what drew us in.”
‘Pivotal time’
“This is such a pivotal time for us; our hard work over the past several years refining and improving our business model and technology across three markets has positioned us to take full advantage of this fundraising round as we look to apply that success in new markets,” said Rent Ready CEO Jonathan Kite in a statement.
The firm built its technology platform to eliminate the frustration of getting an apartment move-in ready. To facilitate that transition, the company said, it uses a proprietary technology platform to make scheduling and completing a turn easier for apartment staff.
As a part of their expansion plans and investment in technology, Rent Ready is in the process of developing a customer portal, which it says will allow apartment staff to access a customizable digital turn services board, resulting in enhancing the user experience.
This customer portal will enable users to order services with the click of button, automatically scheduling service professionals who will meet the required deadline, the company adds.
According to Kite, the company plans to take its model and its platform nationally.
“We have the utmost confidence in fulfilling our vision of ‘make-ready made easy’ for all apartment communities by becoming a national platform,” he said.
Grotech is also an investor in Charlotte-based Passport.
