Grotto AI, an artificial intelligence platform for multifamily operators, has raised a $10 million seed round to help leasing teams unlock $500 billion in lost property value due to vacancy. The funding is led by seasoned AI investor ICONIQ, making Grotto AI one of the earliest-stage investments in the firm’s history.
Advisers and angel investors include David Dear, senior director of resident loyalty at Bilt; Caren Maio, CEO and co-founder of Get100 and co-founder of Funnel Leasing; and Avi Dorfman, co-founder of Compass, with participation from Asymmetric Capital Partners.
According to Grotto AI, its platform, which is already in use, is focused on supercharging leasing teams’ impact instead of replacing the on-site staff. It analyzes leasing interactions to identify key revenue drivers for each property, then delivers real-time coaching during calls and tours to assist the leasing agents.
“Within multifamily, there's been a lot of discussion around the role AI will play. Will it displace labor? How much labor will it displace? Those questions are complex, but what we know is true—which is what our data show—is that human rapport and relationship-building matter deeply for expanding top line revenue,” says Nick Deveau, CEO and co-founder of Grotto AI. “There's been a tremendous amount of efficiency-focused technology built to give teams time back for the moments that matter most, but that human-to-human part of the job has been dramatically underserved. We're purpose-building GrottoAI for the multifamily industry to supercharge exactly those moments.”
The company was founded by Deveau and Ben Epstein, veteran AI engineers who met while at EvolutionIQ; they have nearly two decades of experience building and scaling AI solutions across the hiring, health care, and insurance sectors. The platform’s initial models were built by a team of statisticians and AI researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Stanford by analyzing hundreds of thousands of interactions between leasing agents and prospective renters.
“We had the privilege of working with Nick and Ben at EvolutionIQ and saw firsthand their ability to build and execute world-class B2B vertical AI products,” said ICONIQ general partner Tengbo Li. “What drew us to Grotto AI is that same combination of technical depth and commercial focus. We believe that they’re solving one of the most quantifiable problems in multifamily by driving real, measurable revenue growth.”