Jetty, a renter-focused insurance startup, announced this week that it raised $25 million to grow its business.
The company, which came to market in 2017, offers three flagship insurance products, each of which are designed to save renters and property managers money and give both parties piece of mind.
In addition to offering renters insurance directly to renters, Jetty also partners with property managers and landlords to offer renters insurance directly through the property.
The company also offers a security deposit alternative and a lease guaranty option that are facilitated through its partnerships with property managers.
Jetty works with landlords to offer insured security deposits to renters. For renters, instead of forking over a full security deposit, they pay a one-time fee of 17.5% of the deposit amount. Jetty then insures and guarantees the full deposit amount for the landlord.
And Jetty also offers a lease guaranty option, meaning it will co-sign on a renter’s lease if the renter needs a co-signer to secure a lease. This is how Jetty describes the program on its website:
When friends or family can’t co-sign, we’re on it. With Jetty Lease Guaranty, we’ll act as the guarantor for your next place. All for just about 5-10% extra per year.
For landlords, Jetty claims that the lease guaranty product allows landlords to approve renters who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to get a lease, all while having protection from Jetty should the renter break their lease, etc.
According to the company, its property management partners include LivCor, Beam Living, Griffis, LeFrak, Lynd, Rose Associates, and others, which combine to manage more than 500,000 rental units nationwide.
And now, with the new round of funding, the company plans to grow its business and add new property managers to its roster.
The funding round, the company’s Series B funding, was led by led by Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures. Existing investors, including Valar Ventures and Ribbit Capital, also participated in the round.
“Through further investments in technology and personnel, Jetty will expand its real estate distribution footprint, leveraging its property management partners as its primary channel to provide a better resident experience,” the company said in a release.
According to the company, this funding round brings its total capital raised to $40 million.
“As growing metropolitan areas struggle to build enough housing supply, no financial services have helped mitigate the impact to consumers,” Rabois said.
“Jetty is focused on improving the lease-signing experience by providing a suite of financial services from a security deposit replacement product to a renters insurance product, for both renters and their property managers,” Rabois added. “By providing value to both sides, they’ve been able to create partnerships with the largest property managers across the U.S.”
As part of the funding round, Rabois will join Jetty’s board of directors.
“The process of signing a lease is full of barriers: It’s time consuming and can be prohibitively expensive for everyday renters to access their desired home,” said Mike Rudoy, CEO and co-founder of Jetty. “Jetty is challenging the status-quo by empowering the everyday renter with tools to lower move-in costs, while simultaneously giving property managers a way to streamline operations and mitigate risk. It’s truly a model where everyone wins.”
