EasyKnock, a startup that buys homes and rents them back to the owners, recently raised $20 million in Series B funding.
The funding was co-led by Blumberg Capital and QED Investors. Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Jarred Kessler said the startup plans to use the capital to expand enterprise relationships and tech offerings, and ramp up marketing efforts.
EasyKnock was founded in 2016 by Kessler and Chief Investment Officer Ben Black in New York. The pair opened a sister office in Charlotte two years later. They chose Charlotte, Kessler said, because of the talent pool and sales potential.
Kessler said they were exploring a raise in February and saw the pandemic as an opportunity to pounce. He said with higher unemployment and more people seeking forbearance options because of Covid-19, EasyKnock was the perfect counter-option.
"That led to us saying we want to raise money now, go on offense, expand offerings and infrastructure and evolve our products," he said. "I think these sexy tech companies were interesting two years ago, and we were boring, and now it's become countercyclical; you have this dynamic where companies like us have a path to profitability and thrive in trying times."
EasyKnock has launched two programs to help give homeowners more financial freedom, Kessler said---Sell & Stay and MoveAbility.
The first is a sell-to-lease program where EasyKnock buys a home for cash then leases it back to the owner.
"We give them cash on day one, and they get full market value when they buy it back from us or sell it," Kessler said. "We pay off their mortgage, and they pay us rent."
MoveAbility gives homeowners the freedom to purchase a new home without the worry of having to sell their current property.
"When you move it's stressful to buy and sell at the same time," he said. "We buy the home, they rent from us while they’re living there, and that gives them the time and cash for their next home purchase."
