Mobile Rent Payments See Boost With Major Acquisition

The rental industry’s popular payment method, the physical check, may be facing some stiff competition with the recent announcement of RentShare.com’s sale to i3 Verticals, LLC, a technology and integrated payments provider based in Nashville, Tennessee. The rent payment provider, whose payment platform provides a convenient avenue for landlords and tenants to handle rent payments online, plans to make significant investments in the mobile rent payment sector.

Over $4 billion is expected to be processed through the combined forces of i3 Verticals and RentShare in 2015, according to RentShare founder and CEO Ian Halpern.

“In that time, we will be expanding major product, sales, and marketing initiatives aimed at providing a universally accessible mobile rent payment and collection platform to fit the needs of any landlord and tenant,” Halpern said in a company release yesterday (June 2).

This announcement comes on the heels of the industry reaching an “inflection point,” where multiple rent-focused payment providers have experienced changing hands, while others are stimulating growth by raising significant amounts of money.

End-to-end mobile rental marketplace RadPad recently raised $9 million in Series A funding. RadPad customers have the ability to not only find a place to live using its apartment finder app, but also make rental payments through integration with Apple Pay.

Fueling growth seems to be a common focus amongst the major players in the rental payments industry. “This new partnership with i3 Verticals adds even more strength, stability, and experience along with an infrastructure to support our accelerating growth,” Halpern said.

On the subject of the current state of the rent payment industry, Halpern continued, “We are excited to see this space heating up. I care about this industry and welcome the increased attention it’s getting. At RentShare, we are continually looking at ways to push the rental industry forward.”

Despite the majority of people paying bills electronically, the paper check remains a dominant staple in the market, Halpern said. But with the decline of overall check usage, the timing may be right for mobile rental payments to surge.

RentShare is focusing on addressing that discrepancy by providing its customers with innovative and flexible solutions, while keeping in mind the potential risk of disruption to current systems.

“We are sympathetic to that mindset and designed a platform that connects to a modern mobile payment system but enables landlords to receive those payments electronically or by physical checks if that works better for them. Either way, tenants get the convenience of paying rent on their phones or automatically online,” Halpern said.

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