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Rent Butter, a tenant screening solution designed specifically for workforce and affordable housing based in Chicago, has successfully completed its seed financing round. The $3 million investment was led by RET Ventures – an industry-backed venture fund focused on single- and multifamily real estate technology.

Chris Rankin and Tom Raleigh founded Rent Butter in 2021 to help owners of workforce and affordable housing communities better assess risk when screening potential residents. Since then, the company has seen significant traction with properties comprising more than 100,000 residential units utilizing their solution. They plan to expand their product offering into conventional Class A & B multifamily as well as single family rentals by 2023.

“Our primary goal when founding Rent Butter was to create an alternative to the outdated tenant screening process,” said Raleigh “We wanted property owners have access to a more dynamic picture of applicants’ financial status & history – reducing turnover while opening doors for renters who may have been turned away otherwise.”