Steady Technologies, a platform that serves residential property management companies with financial solutions, announced securing a $500 million facility with Waterfall Asset Management, according to a press release.
The company says it plans to deploy the capital to scale its business nationally and accelerate its Rent Advance product, which provides residential property owners up to 12 months of upfront rental income.
Founded in 2018 by John Higgins and Vik Sarkissian, Steady provides property managers and their owner clients with access to financial and insurance products, designed to reduce risk, eliminate bad debt and generate revenue.
Steady’s Rent Advance product, launched in beta last year and expected to be publicly available this year, offers small rental property investors with resident nonpayment protection.
Available to owners only through their property management provider, Rent Advance mostly partners with mid-size managers that service individual owners. As part of the product, Steady also supplies management fees upfront to these firms.
CEO Higgins, who previously worked at financial solution provider Prosper Marketplace, says the offering is possible because by going through the property management firms, it gains insight into its processes and can accurately assess risk.
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“The important thing to note is, we don’t do this with any random person off the street. They go through the process. We have full integration into the property management software for visibility, and we have contractual rights, etc. We provide that value to the property manager so they can accelerate their fees,” Higgins told FinLedger.
“And by the way, they get made whole. They’re not taking a discount on their fees. Because at the end of the day, they’re our partner. They’re small business owners and entrepreneurs, we can obviously relate to, that’s what I love about this space. And also, they’re professionals,” Higgins said.
In addition to the $500 million debt facility, Steady also raised a previously unannounced seed round led by Fintech Ventures Fund, with participation from Plug and Play Ventures, Silicon Badia and Waterfall Asset Management.
Higgins said that funding has been mainly used for tech and hiring, with the company now sitting just above 20 employees.
“We’re really just focused on hiring and execution. Unlike many others in this industry, we’re very focused on business fundamentals. And we don’t think raising money in-and-of itself is an accomplishment. It’s actually generating revenue and sustainable unit economics that’s an accomplishment,” Higgins said. “I’ve been been through the ups and downs of the venture scene with Prosper. We’re really not interested in building a business that’s hot one day, cold the other.”
Looking ahead Higgins says that Steady plans to serve as many small landlords and property managers as possible, and looks forward to continue growing its team.
In addition, he says the company has a “whole suite of additional products we can layer in and unveil,” with new products expected later this year and next.
“There’s no shortage of opportunities and ideas. Really, it’s just shortage of hours in the day, and also staying focused. We can’t do everything at once, because then you’ll do everything in a mediocre fashion. That’s really not what we’re interested in,” Higgins said.
In other recent proptech news, hybrid workspace startup Upflex raised a $30 million Series A led by WeWork. Arturo also partnered with ICEYE to provide property insurers real-time flood intelligence.