Seattle, WA-based Latchel, an award-winning proptech platform modernizing maintenance operations and resident amenities, raised $16.7 million in Series A funding. F-Prime Capital led the round with participation from RiverPark Ventures and existing investors MetaProp, Bain Capital Ventures, 1984 Ventures, and Hack VC.
The company will use the fresh funds to accelerate product development, deepen third-party property management integrations, and expand platform customizability across maintenance automation solutions so any property manager can enhance resident service levels and reduce their operating cost.
The startup’s plug-and-play maintenance operations and virtual resident amenity platform aim to simplify property management. Through the platform, property managers can offer their residents a full suite of benefits that elevate the rental experience through Latchel’s partners, such as cashback on rent, insurance policies (rental, auto, pet, etc.), and resident-caused damages.
“There is a massive opportunity to impact rental management in a meaningful way. There has been a lot of investment in the proptech space, but most of it has been around customer acquisition rather than how property managers can better serve their residents,” said John Lin, Investor at F-Prime Capital.
Latchel eases the rental experience for both residents and property managers
Property Managers can offer their residents a full suite of benefits that elevate the rental experience through Latchel’s partners, such as cashback on rent, insurance policies (rental, auto, pet, etc.), and resident-caused damages.
As residents spent more time at home during the pandemic, property managers saw an increase in spontaneous maintenance requests. With units distributed across different geographic locations and needing to minimize contact, residents and managers needed a better way to troubleshoot maintenance issues and a faster way to manage incoming requests.
“Latchel is one of the few companies focused on the day-to-day operations management and creating a better experience for the resident,” said John Lin.
Latchel’s platform is used in over 100k homes nationwide and processes over 12,000 maintenance requests every month with a good rating across all work orders. The startup recently won Proptech Breakthrough’s 2021 Property Management Innovation Award.
“The most rewarding part of being able to build solutions in this industry is the relief, reassurance, and empowerment we’ve been able to give to our customers and their residents and the difference it has made in both their businesses and personal lives,” said Ethan Lieber, CEO and Founder of Latchel.
Property managers can now eliminate the backlog of maintenance requests and watch confidently as maintenance requests move through Latchel’s workflow. By including the resident benefits offering as a resident-paid amenity in lease addendums, managers can also create a new revenue stream to boost their profitability and growth potential.
“We’re excited to have more fuel to continuously improve the solutions we build, expand, and allow more property managers to provide better and more competitive resident service levels, and to operate more doors with less overhead cost,” said Ethan Lieber.
