Rent Butter, an advanced tenant screening solution designed specifically for workforce and affordable housing, has completed its $3 million seed financing round led by RET Ventures. Rent Butter, founded by Chris Rankin and Tom Raleigh in 2021, was built to help owners and operators of workforce and affordable housing communities better assess risk when screening potential residents.
Since its founding, Rent Butter has seen significant traction with workforce housing properties comprising more than 100,000 residential units utilizing the solution. The company has plans to expand its product offering and customer base into conventional Class A and B multifamily and single-family rentals this year.
“When founding Rent Butter, our main goal was to create an alternative to the antiquated tenant screening process and to empower property owners with a more dynamic, complete picture of an applicant’s financial status and history—reducing turnover and at the same time opening the door for potential renters who may have otherwise been turned away,” says Raleigh, co-founder and CEO of Rent Butter.
“As we continue to grow our customer base, we’re thrilled to have a partner like RET Ventures who understands our mission and is so deeply entrenched in the industry,” Raleigh continues. “This investment will allow us to expand our team and continue to refine our product and integration capabilities.”
The solution’s digital application allows applicants to transcend the static credit score by sharing alternative data like banking, behavior, and other unique metrics, and then provides property owners with in-depth financial and credit behavior reports in a matter of seconds. By reviewing the entire financial history of a prospective resident and using predictive analytics, Rent Butter reveals key trends, such as credit scores rising or lowering, enabling property operators to make more accurate and equitable assessments of individuals’ ability to pay rent.
Rankin, co-founder and chief technology officer of Rent Butter, says: “As we continue our national expansion, I’m looking forward to arming even more multifamily owners with the insights needed to make the most informed assessments while giving prospective tenants credit for their overall financial behavior. With the support of the incredible team at RET Ventures, I am confident that we can help create a more equitable future for the real estate industry.”
Rent Butter also validates important documents like applicant IDs, employment, and income in real time to protect owners against fraud and is working to create a better leasing experience by fitting seamlessly within property managers’ existing workflows.
“Rent Butter’s approach to the tenant screening process aligns perfectly with the mission of our Housing Impact Fund, and its ability to improve both the owner and resident experience makes it an ideal investment for us,” says Aaron Ru, principal at RET Ventures. “The platform’s in-depth financial reporting methods coupled with its easy-to-use interface delivers instant value to owners looking to enhance their leasing operations, and to renters who may be struggling to find housing. Just two years after its founding, Rent Butter has already made significant strides on product development and market penetration, and we look forward to backing them as they enter this next phase of growth.”
