SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Picket Homes, Inc., the leading technology company focused on residential real estate investing, management, and resident experience, today announced that it has raised its Series A from RET Ventures. The investment will accelerate the growth of the Picket team and its proprietary technology platform as the company works to fundamentally improve every aspect of the single-family home rental (SFR) experience for investors and residents.
Launched in 2020 by a group of tech innovators and seasoned SFR operators, Picket Homes, Inc. was founded to deliver superior technology and services to the SFR sector. Built with advanced data science, institutional-quality modeling, and local market insights, Picket’s Decision Science platform helps investors acquire and manage single-family homes across multiple markets based on their unique investment strategies. Acquisition technology instantly identifies listings on and off the MLS that fit specific investment criteria and delivers custom return analyses for every home. Integrated property management software drives cross-market efficiencies and powerful automations to create a better renting experience for residents and owners. Working seamlessly through the Decision Science platform, experienced in-market agents and operators handle the rest, managing transactions and properties from end to end.
“Single-family rental homes are attracting significant investment from many of the world’s largest institutional investors. These homes represent a highly stable asset class that can offer strong, long-term returns for the investor community,” said Hench LeMaistre, CEO of Picket Homes, Inc., and its subsidiaries, Inertia Realty Services and ElaraOne Home Management. “But equally important to us, single-family rentals can offer outstanding benefits for the growing number of Americans who would rather rent a well-managed home than take on the financial burden and inflexibility of a 30-year mortgage. The venture capital we’ve attracted reflects confidence that demand for single-family rental homes will continue to accelerate and that our SFR-focused technology and services will continue to exceed the expectations of both the investors and residents we seek to serve.”
Picket’s Series A round of financing was led by RET Ventures, the Park City-based firm that specializes in high-growth, early-stage real estate technology companies. John Helm, partner of RET Ventures, has joined the Picket board of directors.
“The SFR sector is primed to benefit from technology companies that can harness the power of big data, automated modeling, and machine learning, and we believe Picket will be one of the leaders of this revolution,” said RET’s Helm. “Picket’s founding team boasts technology expertise and an unrivaled understanding of this asset class, and their impressive suite of tech and services has seen tremendous commercial traction. We’re excited about the role Picket will play in accelerating portfolio growth for SFR investors and improving the overall experience of renting a single-family home.”
The unique combination of integrated technologies and tenured teams dedicated exclusively to SFR investor and resident services has powered the company’s explosive growth since raising its seed round in 2020. Annualized revenue has grown more than 35% month over month in the last 12 months and has exceeded 50% month over month growth in the last six months.
The Series A investment from RET Ventures aims to accelerate this growth, amplifying the reach of Picket’s full-stack investor services platform and powering the transformation of the renting experience.
“We want to help more people live where they want and love where they live, and that’s what continues to drive us,” said LeMaistre. “As more capital comes into this space, we want residents to benefit. That can and should be the promise of SFR.”
About Picket Homes, Inc.
Picket Homes, Inc. is the leading full-service single-family rental (“SFR”) platform for investors and residents. Proprietary Decision Science software offers integrated technologies for every stage of the SFR value chain, enabling investors to quickly and confidently deploy capital into the single-family rental sector across multiple markets, efficiently manage homes to higher standards, and empower residents to live where they want and love where they live. For more information, please visit www.pickethomes.com.
About Inertia Realty Services
Inertia Realty Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Picket Homes, Inc., specializing in complete brokerage services and transaction management for large-scale SFR investors. Backed by advanced data science and institutional-grade modeling, licensed agents in more than 20 markets identify, underwrite, and acquire SFR properties at the speed of today’s market. For more information, please visit www.inertia.one.
About ElaraOne Home Management
ElaraOne (“Elara”) Home Management is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Picket Homes, Inc. dedicated to full-lifecycle management of long-term single-family rentals in more than 10 markets across the nation. Driven by the belief that focusing on resident quality of life is the best way to grow portfolio value, Elara provides superior, personalized service at scale with a commitment to proactive maintenance and technology-powered support. For more information, please visit www.elara.one.
About RET Ventures
A leading real estate technology investment firm, RET Ventures is the first industry-backed early stage venture fund to strategically focus on helping build cutting-edge “rent tech” — technology for multifamily and single-family rental real estate. RET’s base of Strategic Investors includes some of the largest REITs and private real estate owner-operators and managers, who control approximately 2.4 million apartment and single family rental units. Through its deep expertise and connections within the industry, RET has created a unique real estate innovation ecosystem that delivers significant value to the companies it backs, providing them with access to thought leaders, development partners and ongoing guidance. For more information, please visit www.ret.vc.
