Funnel Leasing lands $36.5M Series B round for renter-first technology

A technology company for the rental management industry has raised $36.5 million in a Series B round, it announced recently.

Funnel Leasing offers a customer relationship management solution (CRM) for property managers and deems itself a “renter-centric” leasing platform.

The funding will augment its expansion into larger enterprise and midsize customer markets and was led by RET Ventures, a venture capital firm specifically targeting rent-tech, technology innovators that serve the multifamily and single-family rental industries.

Funding will additionally support software development to better the “end-to-end renter journey” by rolling out tenant onboarding and resident portals.

Joining RET in the financing round were institutional multifamily operators Camden Property Trust and Morgan Properties. Wilshire Lane Capital, Trinity Ventures and Camber Creek contributed as well.

Funnel’s software provides users with a suite of features for renter outreach and communications at multiple stages of the renting lifecycle, offering rental agents sophisticated marketing automation tools typically found within the residential sales category of proptech.

Feature decisions within Funnel are often directed at reducing task redundancy for agents and management, a burden common to the industry because so many apartments, tenants and leasing needs are the same.

The software is collaborative and centers its offerings on renters as opposed to individual properties. This approach is intended to better connect leasing teams to people instead of buildings.

In a statement, Funnel Leasing said its technology gives property teams the chance “to improve and workstream operations across their portfolio by centralizing operations, optimizing marketing budgets and operational costs by staffing intelligently.”

Amplify, a virtual leasing agent; Engage, a renter-first CRM; Convert, a web-based leasing workflow; and Signal, a property marketing syndication module, make up Funnel’s primary product list.

A unique component of Convert is its fintech integration that offers instant income and asset verification, eliminating leasing teams’ need to handle and individually authenticate pay stubs and income statements, such as W2s and W9s.

Funnel was founded in 2010 as an apartment marketing software, expanding in recent years to broaden its scope to tenant outreach and relationship management. It is now used by 17 of the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) Top 50, the company said.

“We are honored to now be the full-portfolio CRM for five of the 20 largest apartment owners in America,” Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel, said in a statement. “This financing gives us the ability to allow other forward-thinking companies to move leasing from property level to the portfolio level.”

Like other companies in the rental industry, Tampa, Florida-based Funnel has been on the favorable end of significant growth in the category, doubling its staff from 40 to 80 and recording year-over-year growth of 115 percent.

Rent continues to climb nationwide as housing grows out-of-reach for more Americans.

Email Craig Rowe