EliseAI Becomes a Unicorn with $75M Series D Funding, Expanding Its Impact Across Property Management

“Thrilled to announce that EliseAI has become a unicorn 🦄, surpassing a $1 billion valuation!”, said Minna Song, CEO at EliseAI.

EliseAI’s Series D fundraising round brought in $75 million, propelling the company to a $1 billion value. Using advanced AI-powered technologies, this startup—founded by Tony Stoyanov and Minna Song, two Cambridge alumni—is reinventing the property management industry. A few months ago, they made their next-generation, all-inclusive AI platform available to both new and current clients. More than 30 million talks with potential clients and residents have taken place on the platform, which serves more than 60% of the top 50 real estate companies. With the help of EliseAI, operators can put artificial intelligence (AI) into reality and transform operations while increasing worker productivity, resident happiness, and operational outcomes.

EliseAI’s origins can be linked to Song’s own experiences in the real estate industry in New York City. She saw firsthand the inefficiencies afflicting property management teams, especially in communication, while working as an administrative assistant. EliseAI was founded in 2017 with the goal of using artificial intelligence to streamline property management procedures as a result of this realisation.

Smart AI chatbots that can perform a variety of activities are the core of EliseAI’s product. These consist of answering questions from prospective tenants, setting up flat tours, handling maintenance requests and overseeing lease renewals. The chatbots provide a customised and effective service since they are specially educated using internal data obtained from interactions with both present and potential renters.

Addressing privacy concerns, Song emphasizes EliseAI’s commitment to data protection and compliance with relevant legislation, including the California Consumer Privacy Act. The company provides users with options to request data deletion, opt out of training data collection, and access their personal data. Importantly, EliseAI maintains that the data remains the property of the respective property managers or owners and is not sold or shared externally.

While some reviews have highlighted potential limitations in the chatbots’ ability to handle nuanced situations or escalate issues to human managers when necessary, Song maintains that the technology is in a state of continuous improvement. The company boasts impressive results, claiming an average increase of 125% in lease tour bookings and a 50% reduction in overdue payments for its clients.

Beyond chatbots, EliseAI offers a comprehensive suite of tools for property managers. This includes a dashboard for monitoring tenant requests, generating operational reports, and tracking lease renewals. These features are bundled with EliseAI’s AI modules and offered on a subscription basis.

In a competitive landscape that includes players like Colleen AI, Funnel, Knock, and Leasehawk, EliseAI has distinguished itself by securing over 350 customers, including 70% of the top 50 rental housing operators in the United States.

Expanding beyond real estate, EliseAI is venturing into the healthcare sector. In 2023, the company launched HealthAI, a solution designed to automate administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling and billing. Song believes that the AI technology developed for property management can be effectively adapted to meet the unique needs of healthcare providers.

The recent funding round was spearheaded by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Point72 Private Investments, DivcoWest, Navitas Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments. This investment brings EliseAI’s total funding to an impressive $140 million. The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to support hiring initiatives, advance AI research and development, enhance product offerings, and bolster go-to-market strategies.

As part of this funding round, Sapphire partner Cathy Gao will join EliseAI’s board of directors. Gao expressed confidence in the company’s potential to lead not only in the housing market but also in new sectors like healthcare.