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Bilt Rewards clinches $150m in fresh funding to enhance loyalty programs
The round was spearheaded by Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), a division of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan specializing in late-stage and growth investments. Alongside TVG, significant contributions came from Vanderbilt University Endowment and the University of Illinois Foundation, with continued support from previous investors.
Bilt Rewards operates as a pioneering loyalty platform that significantly impacts both the residential and local business sectors. By integrating loyalty systems with rental payments, Bilt has facilitated an environment where every rent payment enhances tenant credit scores while simultaneously accruing redeemable points that can be spent within the local community.
The fresh capital will be used to expand Bilt’s influential resident loyalty program and grow its neighborhood loyalty initiatives. These programs are essential for connecting property owners with local businesses, creating a vibrant community ecosystem. Bilt aims to extend these services to include single-family homes and is planning to incorporate mortgage payments into its platform by year-end.
Additional information reveals Bilt’s impressive trajectory of growth. Since their last funding round in January, which raised $200m and put the company’s valuation at $3.1bn, Bilt’s annual platform spend has surged to over $30bn. This represents a 50% increase, driven by the expansion of its loyalty programs to more apartment buildings and into the condominium and homeowner association (HOA) markets. Furthermore, the neighborhood program has expanded to include over 21,000 restaurants and 3,500 fitness studios.
Rick Prostko , Senior Managing Director at Teachers’ Venture Growth, expressed his enthusiasm about the ongoing partnership: “Bilt Rewards has created a unique loyalty program to empower renters. We’ve seen the positive reaction from both customers and all those involved as part of their ecosystem. We are excited about the opportunity to work with Ankur and the full management team and find ways to support them as a value-add partner.”
Ankur Jain, CEO of Bilt Rewards, commented on the future prospects: “This funding accelerates our vision of rewarding Americans for how they live and spend in their communities. We’re rapidly growing our neighborhood loyalty program, expanding into essential categories like healthcare, gas, and groceries. With members in all 50 states, we’re building a comprehensive platform that benefits residents, property owners, and local businesses across the country.”
IntelePeer bags $140m to advance AI automation in customer service
This strategic investment was co-led by Savant Growth LLC and VantagePoint Capital Partners, with additional backing from Savant’s limited partners, including Coller Capital, Hollyport Capital, Manulife Investment Management, and Achmea.
The debt financing was led by Vector Capital through its new direct credit strategy, Vector Velocity. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. acted as financial advisor to IntelePeer.
IntelePeer specialises in providing AI-driven solutions for automating communications across various channels.
Fortune 500 and large mid-market firms across insurance, healthcare, retail, financial services, logistics, and transportation verticals are leveraging IntelePeer’s domain-specific AI Agents to enhance their customer service initiatives and experiences.
The newly secured funding will support IntelePeer’s mission to continue reinventing the contact centre and advancing their AI Agent portfolio. The investment will also boost their product development, sales, and marketing efforts, ensuring they remain at the forefront of AI-driven customer service automation.
Since 2020, IntelePeer has been implementing communications AI and automation, with significant acceleration following the adoption of Gen AI.
Their solutions include an omnichannel communications workflow engine and call centre integrations, delivering high levels of self-serve automation for their clients.
IntelePeer CEO Frank Fawzi commented, “IntelePeer grew its AI business by more than 100% year-over-year and is forecasting further acceleration, as a result of our commitment to reinventing the contact centre through customer self-service automation. This funding is further validation of this long-term goal. Our unique sales process harnesses Gen AI to extract why consumers contact a business. The collected data is used to develop an intent map that identifies what AI use cases will deliver the highest ROI with the best possible customer experience and can be used to create reports ready for executive and board presentations. This funding will enable us to continue growing our AI Agent portfolio, significantly increasing our investment in our product and development teams as well as our sales and marketing initiatives.
“The advent of Gen AI has opened the floodgates for businesses to realise massive operational efficiencies while vastly improving customer experience. The measures we have taken, including our partnership with Microsoft Azure OpenAI, ensure the guardrails are in place for responsible AI implementation, a key consideration for all clients looking to implement AI. It’s exciting to have this new backing from investors, and we’ll continue to move forward in developing top-tier AI Agents that provide our customers with best-in-class security and compliance.”
Javier Rojas, Founding Partner, Savant Growth, added, “IntelePeer has been implementing communications AI and automation since 2020 but saw an acceleration after adopting Gen AI which radically increases ROI for customers. While IntelePeer’s workflow capture and guardrails result in rapid reliable implementations, its market leading product success results from its whole product offering including its omnichannel communications workflow engine, call centre, integrations and voice quality experience which provides the contact centre with full self-serve automation for approximately 65% of calls across its customers.”
Nick Ghoussaini, Head of Credit at Vector Capital, remarked, “We are excited to draw from our deep credit investing experience to provide a flexible financing solution to IntelePeer and support the company’s transition to its next phase of growth. As the use of AI continues to rapidly grow within the contact centre solutions sector, we look forward to leveraging our proven operating support and technology expertise to ensure IntelePeer is best positioned to capitalise on AI expansion opportunities.”
Finance in Motion teams up with Napier AI to enhance AML efforts in impact investing
Napier AI is set to enhance Finance in Motion’s operations by integrating its Client Screening solution and Client Risk Assessment module within the Napier AI Continuum platform. This initiative is aimed at bolstering Finance in Motion’s growth and enabling the firm to focus on generating positive change in emerging markets through impact investments.
The Napier AI platform offers several innovative features that Finance in Motion will benefit from, including API-enabled, cloud-native automated client screening which supports transliteration across 22 languages, AI fuzzy matching, and secondary scoring capabilities. Additionally, the platform offers a user-friendly interface with customisable workflows, a sandbox environment for optimising screening configurations, and configurable dashboards that facilitate efficient decision-making through no-code rule building and AI insights.
Impact investing is crucial for addressing global challenges and achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, the 8th goal aims to promote ‘Decent work and economic growth’ by taking immediate and effective measures against forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour. Finance in Motion is dedicated to this cause, ensuring that the funds they manage are not only invested responsibly but also safeguarded against financial crime through robust AML controls.
Sylvia Wisniwski, Managing Director at Finance in Motion, emphasized the importance of their duty to ensure that all capital raised is used precisely for intended impact investments in emerging markets. She said, “Like any institution, we have a duty to ensure that the public and private capital raised is used exclusively for the intended objectives, in our case impact investments in emerging markets. Accordingly, regulation requires effective measures to prevent funds from being used to finance criminal activities. The collaboration with Napier AI allows us to efficiently query data through automated processes and integrated systems.”
Greg Watson, CEO of Napier AI, expressed pride in their partnership with Finance in Motion. He said, “Napier AI is proud to join forces with Finance in Motion to use next generation technology to make a positive impact on the planet. The key to dismantling criminal networks lies in cutting off their sources of revenue entirely by correctly identifying accounts, transactions, and behavioural patterns associated with financial crime. Napier AI’s cutting-edge compliance solutions supercharge Finance in Motion’s mission to generate positive change in emerging markets with automated client screening.
Napier AI is a pioneering RegTech company providing anti-money laundering and financial crime compliance software to the banking, payments, and wealth & asset management sectors. With a client base of over 150 institutions globally, Napier AI Continuum is transforming compliance into a strategic advantage.
Exploit intelligence firm VulnCheck announces $7.95m seed investment
This recent financial infusion includes $4.75m in new capital primarily contributed by Sorenson Capital, a noteworthy participant in this funding round.
The company, which specialises in providing next-generation exploit intelligence solutions, has raised $7.95m to further its mission. The investment was led by Sorenson Capital, marking a significant milestone in VulnCheck’s financial journey.
VulnCheck offers sophisticated services that streamline vulnerability prioritisation by integrating exploit and threat intelligence. This approach allows enterprises, government agencies, and cybersecurity entities to focus on critical threats with enhanced efficiency and accuracy. The firm’s unique selling proposition lies in its ability to deliver actionable, machine-readable data at the moment of disclosure, significantly reducing the need for human intervention and accelerating response times.
The freshly acquired funds are earmarked for accelerating VulnCheck’s growth and enhancing its product development capabilities. The aim is to expand the company’s impact on enterprise platforms and workflows, and meet the burgeoning demand for robust exploit intelligence across government entities and organisations tasked with safeguarding critical infrastructure.
Additional insights into the company’s trajectory include its recent accolade as a finalist in the RSA Conference 2024 Innovation Sandbox contest, which underscores its innovative approach and industry recognition.
VulnCheck CEO Anthony Bettini remarked, “Since launching, we’ve seen demand for VulnCheck’s intelligence services skyrocket. Advanced vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and application security features are on the horizon, and VulnCheck is committed to continuing to help organisations prioritise threats in today’s rapidly evolving landscape. This funding is a testament to our momentum, and we are excited to further invest in developing our enterprise and critical infrastructure solutions.”
Previously, VulnCheck has been proactive in securing financial backing to fuel its strategic initiatives, with this round serving as a continuation of its efforts to lead and innovate within the cybersecurity space.
Victory Park Capital strengthens alliance with Zip
Victory Park Capital Advisors, an established credit manager and global alternative investment firm, has closed a refinancing agreement for a $225m debt facility with Zip, a renowned player in the digital retail finance and payments industries.
This strategic financial collaboration is set to bolster Zip’s US receivables, marking a crucial step in the expansion of its operations within the American market.
Founded in Australia in 2013, Zip has emerged as a global FinTech powerhouse, offering innovative, customer-focused products and services that bridge the gap between consumers and merchants. The company operates chiefly in Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas, providing versatile point-of-sale payment solutions and connecting millions of customers with a vast network of merchants. This new injection of funds is expected to fuel Zip’s strategic initiatives, enhancing its comprehensive suite of consumer financing solutions and driving the growth of its business platform.
The partnership between Victory Park Capital and Zip is not new; it dates back to 2015, signifying a long-standing, fruitful relationship. The journey began with a A$108m asset-backed warehouse facility, which subsequently expanded to A$200m. In 2020, another milestone was achieved when the two firms closed a A$100m debt facility, aimed at funding receivables and fortifying the Zip Business platform.
Zip’s Co-founder and U.S. CEO, Larry Diamond, expressed his enthusiasm about the renewed collaboration with VPC, emphasising the transaction’s significance in reinforcing Zip’s presence in the U.S. market.
He said, “We are thrilled to announce our renewed collaboration with VPC, a cornerstone investor in Zip since our early days. This pivotal transaction marks a significant step in bolstering Zip’s expansion within the U.S. market. As we refine and broaden our portfolio of consumer financing solutions, the three-year deal provides us with both the strategic timing and the flexibility needed to spearhead innovation in both our new and existing product lines. This partnership not only underscores our shared vision for market leadership but also cements our commitment to delivering unparalleled financial products to our American customers.”
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