Following its first expansion outside of Denver, rental technology startup Nomad has brought on a $20 million Series A round to take its guaranteed rent solution to 10 new markets over the next two years.
Nomad, a marketplace that gives small-time rental property owners guaranteed rent, raised $20 million in funding led by Silicon Valley Bank Capital, with participation from additional existing investors: Kickstart Fund, Peterson Ventures and Denver’s Range Ventures.
The startup, founded in 2019 by PJ O’Neil and Matt Thelen, is offering long-term renters certainty even when their property is vacant.
With Nomad, property owners can request an offer that is personalized to provide a reasonable rent income for their property. From there, they have the option to take the offer and Nomad will take over in the listing and rental of the property. Nomad then takes professional photos, lists the property on the most popular rental sites, fields inquiries and shows the property.
Each month, Nomad will pay landlords an agreed-upon rent, regardless of whether the unit is occupied. The company makes money on its end by charging a fee for how risky it deems renting the property will be.
After first launching in its home city of Denver, Nomad entered Phoenix in 2021 and has quickly seen new customer adoption. The company’s revenue grew by eight times in 2021 and it is now working with a roster of rentals valued at over $250 million in aggregate. The company has also added financial products for rental owners like rent advance, rewards for tenured residents and brokerage services.
Now, Nomad is looking to build on that expansion success and will use the $20 million Series A to move into 10 new markets by the end of 2023.
“Individual landlords make up the majority of the single-family rental market, and Nomad exists to solve their single largest pain point: uncertainty. No one has a crystal ball, but guaranteed rent allows landlords to operate on sure footing - and with access to the benefits of scale that usually only belong to massive single family rental corporations funded by large Wall Street institutions,” O’Neil said in a statement. “We want to shake up the SFR experience and this funding will accelerate the momentum that benefits small landlords and their tenants in an ever-changing rental market.”
The company’s first planned expansion will be into Raleigh, North Carolina, this spring, targeting the city’s affinity for technology in the real estate market.
“Raleigh is a logical next step for Nomad with its tech-savvy rental owners, a history of adopting innovative new real estate models, and fundamentally-strong rental market,” Thelen said in a statement.
After emerging from stealth in February 2021, Nomad has grown to nearly 40 employees and expects to hire 50 more in 2022. Nomad was previously named to Colorado Inno's 21 startups to watch in 2021 list.
