Announcing Our Investment in Keyo: A New Way to Rent
Village Global is proud to back Keyo through our Network Catalyst program. Keyo is a beautifully designed all-in-one app for a more rewarding rental experience. Keyo builds infrastructure for landlords offering tenant applications, credit checks, background checks, digital contract signing and lease management for free, while seamlessly syndicating a building’s available units to top rental sites and tracking ads to provide transparent marketing analytics.
With home and apartment rentals nearing an all-time high, Keyo also endeavors to serve the 27 million+ tenants renting in the US today by helping them pay on time, request repairs, improve their credit score and learn about local events through an elegant, easy-to-use, consumer app. Their mission is to help tenants build a better relationship with their landlord and a better community with their neighbors.
That’s why we’re delighted to support Keyo as they reinvent the rental experience. With 4,300 units under management in 60 buildings in Brooklyn, alone, we are thrilled to support the company’s expansion in New York and new markets in the US this year.
Here’s a quote from Keyo, Founder and CEO, Kiran Bellubbi about working with Village:
I really think of Village Global as a Cofounder at Keyo. We’ve ideated, strategized and built this business from the ground up together in under 3 months. Couldn’t have done it without this team. The pace of play is astonishing.”
— Kiran Bellubbi, Founder, Keyo
Kiran’s passion for design and acute ability to execute compelling consumer experiences has helped him create multiple award-winning iOS apps with millions of total downloads combined. His first app Band of the Day won runner-up to Instagram for Apple’s App of the Year in 2011. Bellubbi later transitioned Band of the Day into Applauze, a concert ticket app that was acquired in 2016 by Live Nation.
We believe Kiran and the Keyo team can transform the multi-billion dollar industry of consumer rent and broker needs. Understanding that housing is fundamental on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we want to help Keyo become the preferred digital experience and infrastructure for landlords and tenants alike.
We’ve tried to supercharge Kiran’s network by introducing his team to additional investors who participated in Keyo’s new round and exposing him to Village Global luminaries like Reid Hoffman for focused discussions on go-to-market strategy.
We’re honored to have an entrepreneur of Kiran’s caliber in the Village Network, and we’re thrilled for the journey ahead as he and the team scale.
If you would like to learn more about Keyo, read this article in TechCrunch or visit their website.
