Meet The Fintech Billionaire Making A Fortune Rewarding Home Renters

Forbes

With support from American Express’ longtime CEO Ken Chenault, the founder of fintech Bilt Rewards has become a billionaire creating a membership rewards program for house and apartment renters across the country.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2024/04/24/meet-the-fintech-billionaire-making-a-fortune-rewarding-home-renters/?sh=6ab5cab84ca7  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Monday, April 29th.

00:05 Today on Forbes, meet the FinTech billionaire making a fortune rewarding home renters.

00:11 A few months after Tyler and Brian Albritton moved from Brooklyn, New York to Atlanta last

00:17 year, they got an email inviting them to pay their $3,400 rent through Built Rewards and

00:23 accumulate membership points for doing so.

00:26 While neither had heard of it, they saw little downside.

00:29 The couple are now saving those Built points for a trip, likely a Caribbean beach vacation.

00:35 They can also get more points and other benefits by patronizing nearby merchants that are part

00:39 of the Built Alliance.

00:41 That's one reason Tyler Albritton makes sure to visit Built partner SoulCycle, especially

00:45 on the one day a month when one random Built member wins a free month's rent.

00:50 She says, "It's really nice to be rewarded for paying rent."

00:56 Built Rewards is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Ankur Jain, who founded it in

01:00 2019.

01:01 At the time, he was chairman of Rhino, a FinTech startup that offers low-cost insurance policies

01:07 in exchange for paying a renter's security deposit.

01:09 But he was looking for bigger opportunities.

01:13 A friend with experience in the hospitality industry mentioned how much hotels and airlines

01:17 actually make from their rewards programs.

01:21 Jain's idea was to bring that to the rental industry.

01:24 After all, it's a huge opportunity.

01:26 44 million U.S. households pay rent, often their highest expenditure each month.

01:31 But what if they could earn the equivalent of frequent flyer miles or American Express

01:35 points?

01:36 His creation has caught on with renters, property owners, and rewards partners.

01:41 While he won't disclose how many people are using its app, Built says it has signed up

01:45 property owners with a total of 4 million rentals (apartments and single-family homes)

01:50 in thousands of U.S. cities, plus more than a dozen airlines, several large hotel chains,

01:56 gyms and restaurants.

01:58 And it has turned him into a new billionaire.

02:01 In January, Built Rewards raised $200 million from venture capital investors, who valued

02:07 the company at $3.1 billion.

02:10 With his 36% stake in Built, plus other investments, the 34-year-old CEO is worth an estimated

02:16 $1.2 billion.

02:19 That $3.1 billion is a fat valuation for a rather young company.

02:24 Built launched its service in 2021.

02:27 But Jane sees lots of room to grow, having signed up less than 10% of the nation's rentals

02:31 so far and with plenty of other potential partners to pursue.

02:35 Jane says, "We're still very much in the early innings.

02:39 We'll be doubling or tripling our network scale this year."

02:44 Jane's plan appears to benefit everyone involved.

02:47 It processes tenants' rent payments, charging the landlord the same price as any payment

02:51 processor.

02:52 It then directs its members to use credit cards linked to the Built app at local businesses

02:56 like gyms and restaurants, in return for Built getting a sliver of the revenue those members

03:01 bring in.

03:02 Jane's company then passes on a portion of that money to the property owners, though

03:06 we won't say how much.

03:08 Built also partners with MasterCard and Wells Fargo, which issue a no-annual-fee Built credit

03:13 card and return a tiny bit of the fee for every transaction made back to Built.

03:18 Every customer gets 250 points each month, but those who use the Built card get a point

03:23 for every dollar spent on rent, up to 100,000 points a year.

03:27 All of this adds up.

03:29 Jane says that revenue for the Manhattan-based company should come in north of $200 million

03:34 this year, but he won't say what the company brought in last year.

03:38 Despite its strong start, not everyone is happy with the fintech.

03:42 Dozens of disgruntled Built customers have taken to Reddit to air their complaints.

03:47 Last year, it was mainly about long waits for not-very-helpful customer service.

03:51 Earlier this month, they were upset about an email sent in error telling some members

03:55 their accounts were being shut down.

03:58 Jane says the company has ramped up its customer service, and Built gave 250 points to the

04:03 people who received the erroneous email.

04:06 The extremely well-connected Jane has some high-powered believers backing him up, including

04:11 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who sits on the board of the now 140-employee startup.

04:16 Goodell was also the one who introduced Jane to former American Express CEO Ken Chenault,

04:21 who is now chairman and managing director of venture capital firm General Catalyst.

04:26 Chenault became chairman of Built's board in January, and General Catalyst led the $200

04:31 million fundraising round that month.

04:33 Chenault knows a lot about rewards, having led American Express to introduce its membership

04:38 rewards program in 1991.

04:42 For full coverage, check out Carrie A. Dolan's piece on Forbes.com.

04:47 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:50 Thanks for tuning in.

04:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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