糖心视频

, a new Austin-based real estate company with a platform aimed at streamlining the rental property management process, has raised $7 million in a seed round of funding.

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Germany’s led the financing, which included participation from , , , , , and other unnamed 鈥淰C funds and real estate groups.鈥�

It鈥檚 a refrain that those of us covering real estate tech have heard over and over again. The group aims to help modernize an industry that is 鈥渟tuck in the dark ages.鈥�

, co-founder and CTO of Ender, says he hasn鈥檛 seen 鈥渁n industry so backward since govtech.鈥�

The company鈥檚 goal is to help owners of rental homes more efficiently (i.e. digitally) handle day-to-day operations of property management such as maintenance requests, collect rent, show their properties and manage leasing applications. Basically, as co-founder and CEO describes it, Ender aims to be 鈥渁 cohesive platform [that] benefits property investors, tenants, and vendors by simplifying leasing, payments, accounting, and communication鈥� in one place.

鈥淲e knew we could build better software than what鈥檚 out there but it needed to integrate directly with [existing] operations and vendors,鈥� Lonsdale (who happens to the brother of co-founder ) told me.

Ender is also working on integrating smart home technology into all the rental units its platform helps manage. It鈥檚 working on building out technology that will integrate with smart locks, water leak sensors, motion sensors, and other smart home integrations. Vetted vendors working within the Ender platform are able access units through the Ender system. Currently, the company is focused on single-family homes but plans to eventually also branch out into multifamily.

In the new year, Ender plans to release its software-only product for owners and property managers to use. This is in addition to its existing 鈥淪mart Leasing鈥� service, which essentially schedules self-showings, sends applications online and processes credit and background checks.

Sidenote: the company was named after 鈥溾�� a 1985 military science novel by Orson Scott Card, which Lonsdale said the founding team found 鈥渋nspiring.鈥� Also, Mirra and Joseph Lonsdale previously co-founded , an investment management platform.

Ender is just one of an increasing number of real estate tech startups based in Austin. There鈥檚 also REX (which recently raised $40 million), (which was acquired by for $210 million in mid-2018), and (which raised $25 million in July), among others.

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