EXCLUSIVE – Blockchain-based rental payments platform Rentberry is looking to raise $30 million in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) next month, Bank Innovation has learned.
The ICO is set to take place on Nov. 30, Rentberry CEO Alex Lubinsky told Bank Innovation at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas.
Based in California, Rentberry is a home rental service that automates standard rental tasks like submitting personal information to be approved for a rental to credit reports as well as e-signing rental agreements and submitting online rental payments.
Its main feature, however, is that it lets the renter seek out lenders for their security deposits on a blockchain focused platform.
For example, Lubinsky explained, instead of paying $2,000 in a security deposit for a rental, the site provides a rating of each renter based on their past financial behavior as it pertains to renting, evictions (if any) etc. Based on that rating, the site matches the renter to lenders, who in turn pays the security deposit. The renter will then pay the lender a fixed amount including interest over a fixed period of time. The payment process takes place on a blockchain-based platform.
“So instead of paying $2,000 in one instant,” Lubinsky said, “The renter is paying $7 per month for a fixed period.”
By raising funds via this ICO, Lubinsky hopes to expand the company in the U.S., but also internationally.
“We’ve already built the technology for the Canadian market,” he said.
There is no set date for going live in Canada yet, Lubinsky said, “because right now the focus is on the ICO.”
Once the ICO is completed, Rentberry will focus its international expansion efforts first on English-speaking markets such as Canada, Australia and the U.K. It plans to use 15% of the proceeds to buy rental properties across these markets.
Founded in 2015, Rentberry has so far raised $4 million in V.C. funding. It currently has over 110,000 users.