Multifamily PropTech Platform Knock Raises $20 Million For Expansion

Property technology firm Knock has raised $20 million to fund its growth and expansion plans, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 18), saying the funding round was led by Fifth Wall.

“The macroeconomic environment is driving institutional capital into multifamily real estate at an accelerated pace,” Vik Chawla, a partner on the Fifth Wall Real Estate Technology Investment Team, said in the announcement.

Amid the pandemic, virtual leasing and digital property management have boomed in popularity, both as a means of practicing safe social distancing measures, and as a way for homebuyers and renters to make important life changes — leaving cities behind and replacing them with houses that offer more space and a place to preserve their health and wellness.

A year into the pandemic shows the difference: as Americans migrate, rents in suburban areas are on the rise, while major cities hit hard by the coronavirus, such as New York and San Francisco, are seeing rents fall.

Knock provides bundled CRM and performance management to multifamily property management companies, according to the announcement. The firm will use the funding to expand services such as its virtual and self-guided tour capability, applicant screening and leasing, intelligent forecasting, central sales and leasing management, fraud prevention and artificial intelligence (AI) communications.

Knock also plans to allow its clients to manage more units with automated workflows in its leasing technology, according to the release.

“[Knock’s] platform optimizes the entire tenant relationship — from marketing to retention — and serves as a workforce management solution for training and tracking productivity,” Chawla said in the press release.

Even before the pandemic, digital property management was on the rise; integrated platforms offer landlords the ability to capture all the moving parts of the rental business in one tool. In the 2020s, PYMNTS previously reported, “there will be more such efforts in the global rental space.”

The funding round brings the company’s total fundraising to $47 million. Other investors include Second Avenue Partners, Lead Edge Capital, Madrona Venture Group and Seven Peaks Ventures.

Knock counts over 1.5 million apartments units on its platform, according to the press release, and plans to expand its teams.