LatamList – Hent, a Brazilian property management platform, raised a $1M (R$5M) investment round led by Canary. Brian Requarth, co-founder of VivaReal, angel investor Julian Toniol, and Norte Ventures also participated in the round.
There is a major housing crisis in Brazil due to a lack of properties, high rental costs, and a consequent default rate of 18% to 22%. Hent’s service aims to reduce operational costs for landlords and improve the financial efficiency of property rental.
For landlords with large portfolios, managing the contracts and payment is a complex operation. Hent’s platform manages everything from contracts to issuing payment slips to tenants via WhatsApp, email, or SMS with its automated payment process.
“The housing market is still very fragmented and low-tech in Brazil, so we saw a great opportunity in Hent,” said Marcos Toledo, co-founder and Managing Partner of Canary.
Hent currently helps manage 24,000 properties from three customers. While sales have fallen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hent partners expect growth to resume in the coming months. The startup aims to reach 45,000 properties by the end of 2020.
The startup will use the recent investment to hire more staff and continue to consolidate the business model.
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