Rising demand for alternative payment solutions for rental expenses saw Rent.com.au (ASX: RNT) launch RentPay last year and with rising adoptions amongst renters, the real estate tech company is set to take the payments platform to the next level following a $2.5 million capital raise.
The raise was originally only targeting $2 million in funds but with excessive demand, Rent.com.au accepted bids up to $2.5 million from institutional investors at $0.06 per new share.
“With RentPay now live in the market, we’ve seen how our customers access the benefits of RentPay, from flexibility and control over their rent, to making their rent money work harder for them through features such as our industry first Scorebuilder,” said Rent.com.au CEO, Greg Bader.
“We have also seen increasing interest from real estate agents that understand the value this can offer, both to their tenants but also to their bottom line by improving the efficiency of their own businesses.”
As an innovative platform linked to their flagship Rent.com.au website, RentPay enables tenants to make payments, track their payment history, contact landlords and set up various alerts. The platform is also linked to other Rent.com.au products including Rent Check, Rent Bond and Rent Connect – creating an all-inclusive ecosystem for tenants to meet all of their real estate needs in one place.
The $2.5 million in new funds will be used to increase marketing activities for RentPay as well as add new features to the app such as new payment choices, improved customer flows and a rewards system.
“To be supported by our larger existing shareholders is fantastic. I truly believe that we can transform the way that renting works in Australia,” said Bader.
“It certainly needs to change. Over 30% of our population rent and the largest groups are those that are doing it for logical reasons – it makes sense for them right now and should not have a negative stigma or be viewed as somehow a secondary choice. The funds raised via the Placement support our mission of making renting rewarding.”
RentPay first came on the radar of many investors in February 2021 when Rent.com.au raised eyebrows after tech mogul Beven Slattery acquired $2m worth of RNT shares at $0.05 per share. Interest from Slattery in RentPay sent shares in Rent.com.au soaring in the following months to reach a high of $0.395 before COVID disruptions to the tenant market impacted Rent.com.au.
For the financial year ended 30 June 2021, Rent.com.au reported $3.66 million in revenue for a net loss after tax of $1.29 million. Despite the impact of the pandemic, this was a strong improvement on the previous year’s $1.66m loss as the Company continued to find innovative ways to monetise their database of more than 1.2 million renter profiles.
Following news of this latest oversubscribed capital raise at $0.06 per share, RNT shares have surged in early morning trade to reach a high of $0.078.
RentPay is targeted towards the 2.5 million households in Australia who collectively pay more than $1 billion in rent each week as a platform built for tenants in an industry that has traditionally been oriented towards agents and landlords.
Alfred Chan is a Business Reporter at The Sentiment specialising in ASX-listed small cap companies, a bloodstock enthusiast and former equities analyst.
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