When you hear the name Alfred, you think of two things — Batman’s loyal butler or a New York-based residential management startup. While both have been introduced to the world as an in-house service to make managing household chores easier, only one is eyeing serious growth opportunities this year.
Residential management startup Alfred, which offers a personal assistant app for consumers that live in apartments, announced on Wednesday it raised $125 million in a financing round led by Rialto Capital. In addition to the fresh capital, the startup announced it acquired property management firm RKW Residential for an undisclosed amount.
A portion of the financing round — $75 million — will be solely dedicated to future Alfred acquisitions. The remaining $50 million is described as an “initial closing.”
“No matter what end of the real estate spectrum you’re on — owner, operator or resident — you want more for your money,” Alfred CEO and co-founder Marcela Sapone said in a statement. “By acquiring RKW, we can more deeply deploy technology to learn, innovate and continually elevate the rental experience for all.”
Built In last caught up with Alfred, formerly Hello Alfred, in 2018 after it gained $40 million in Series B funding. Back then, Alfred’s consumer offerings included integrating with apartment buildings and providing renters with subscription-based services through its app. These services ranged from household chores like laundry to grocery shopping and furniture removal.
Since its Series B round, the startup has acquired two other platforms — HOM and Bixby — to help perform property management and on-demand services. Additionally, Alfred expanded from being available in eight U.S. cities to now reaching 300,000 residents in 44 cities in America and Canada, according to the company.
The acquisition of RKW will introduce Alfred to RKW’s network of 30,000 single-family and multi-family rentals in the Southeast, including cities like Miami, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Through the app, users can request services and Alfred then connects them to professionals who will do things like drop-off and pick-up clothes from the dry cleaners, walk pets, bring in packages and more.
The Alfred Operating System, on the other hand, helps building owners and operators manage maintenance, payments, resident retention offerings and more in one platform. Both the app and Alfred’s AOS will be introduced to RKW residents.
“RKW and Alfred share a people-first philosophy,” RKW President Marcie Williams said in a statement. “Together with Alfred, we’ll revolutionize how we approach property management, with a focus on using the latest technology and resident-focused innovation.”
