Residential leasing startup Knock just announced that it has raised $5 million in seed funding.
The round was co-led by Accomplice and Boston Seed. Per the press release, Hippo co-founder, Eyal Navon, also participated.
“As industries move quickly to self-service, leasing remains tangled in an arduous process that doesn’t make sense for today’s renters that expect a certain level of convenience, speed, and transparency,” Ryan Moore, founder at Accomplice, said in the release.
Not to be confused with the real estate home-swapping startup Knock, this company is based in New York, and it aims to simplify the rental process for both landlords and tenants. Landlords are able to lease their apartments quicker and more efficiently through the startup’s app, which boasts AI bots, a self-touring feature, big data machine learning and cybersecurity.
The self-touring feature is a crucial element to Knock’s model because it allows prospective tenants to tour properties on their own time. Per the release, on the app, it takes just 16 hours on average to turn an inquiry into an in-person visit.
“Knock is helping landlords save resources and reduce days on market by being the first to combine the convenience of self-touring with a fully integrated leasing solution. This frictionless way to get from finding an apartment and touring it, to signing a lease is the future of residential real estate,” Moore added.
Per the release, Knock’s funding will be used to expand their global presence and their New York City portfolio.
“Covid accelerated the demand for efficient and cost-effective leasing processes,” Erez Cohen, co-founder and CEO at Knock, said in the release. “Knock used this opportunity to build a suite of end-to-end leasing solutions.
“We’re extremely proud and excited to see prospects hop out of an Uber in their desired neighborhood, self-tour 30 apartments, no matter the time, with access to both brokers and AI-enabled support to answer questions along the way, and sign a lease within hours. Built on the idea that efficiency is key and transparency is paramount, we believe we’ve developed the interface that will be the new way people rent apartments.”
