Nigerian prop-tech startup Spleet has closed a US$2.6 million seed round to scale its residential rent focused products.
Founded by Tola Adesanmi in 2018 from the need to find rentals with flexible payment options in Lagos as opposed to the usual one or two year upfront payment options, Spleet allows homeowners to rent to vetted individuals, while also helping people easily find places to stay. The startup enables landlords to verify and vet tenants, and also automates rent collections.
Spleet raised a US$625,000 pre-seed funding round in March, and has swiftly followed that up with a US$2.6 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital. Other investors include Noemis Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Assembly Fund, Ajim Capital, Francis Fund, and other angel investors. Existing investors from Spleet’s pre-seed round, Metaprop VC and HoaQ Fund, also participated in this round.
Since its inception, Spleet has processed millions in rent, housed over 1,000 tenants and onboarded over 35 individual and corporate landlords. With the funding, the the startup plans to expand its product offerings to include Collect, a service that automatically receives rent payments on behalf of landlords; Verify, a tool that enables landlords and real estate agents to vet and carry out adequate background checks on tenants before offering lease agreements; and Rent Now Pay Later, a no collateral, affordable-interest rate rental loan product.
“This funding would go into deepening our product offerings for landlords, real estate agents and tenants across Nigeria and testing out new markets,” said Adesanmi.
“The housing crisis is an enormous problem that impacts us at a global scale, and Africa is no exception,” said Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital.
“In countries like Nigeria, the requirement for tenants to provide 12-to-24 months of rent payment in advance creates a barrier for large parts of the population in accessing the rental market and essentially renders them homeless. MaC is proud to partner with Spleet as it continues to bring forward a comprehensive solution that effectively serves both sides of the housing market and makes true deposits to combating homelessness.”
