Black-led rental platform REZI lands $100M in funding to further national expansion

The rental platform REZI, which describes itself as a provider of “Occupancy As A Service”, has secured an additional US$100 million in debt funding from longtime partner Stratos Credit. REZI, an alum of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, was founded in 2016 with the goal of automating the rental process, decreasing discriminatory practices in renting and improving outcomes for property owners.

“Our vision is it should be as easy to rent as to buy something on Amazon,” said cofounder and CEO Sean Mitchell. Mitchell explains the REZI model as one where their proprietary analysis combined with insights from each property owner can predict market-rate rents and lease performance while lowering overhead costs for the owner-operators. REZI sets the rents through their platform, guaranteeing a baseline for the property owner to earn from rents each month, and then earns its income from the profit margin created through decreased costs.

Applicants use the REZI platform to apply directly for a lease and book showings, which helps lower the discriminatory barriers that can occur in the rental market. Mitchell and the two other cofounders, Keenan Williams and Harsh Yadav, had all previously experienced lengthy, cumbersome rental processes and in some cases acts of discrimination which led to the initial inspiration to found REZI.

REZI software uses rental market data from both publicly available and paid sources to predict the outcome and performance of rental contracts.