EliseAI, a startup bringing generative AI to rental property management, has hit unicorn status Wednesday in a $75 million Series D led by Sapphire Ventures, the latest example of a domain-specific AI company gaining traction.
The New York-based startup last raised a $35 million Series C in June 2023 at a $285 million post-valuation, according to PitchBook data. The Series D brings EliseAI’s valuation above $1 billion and its total capital raised to $171.9 million.
Minna Song, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said that a part of EliseAI’s success is its highly specialized focus on commercial real estate. Investors have advised AI startups to pick their spots carefully to survive in an arena dominated by large players.
“When you’re thinking about use cases, so much of what’s out there is broad, like ‘I can schedule meetings for you or anyone, but that’s all I can do.’ The depth is actually much smaller,” she said. “We can run a building.”
Founded in 2017, EliseAI provides a conversational chatbot that handles renters’ questions on lease renewals and terms, property showings, maintenance issues and servicing. Song said that the startup uses a proprietary large language model in concert with other well-known ones; though she didn’t disclose which ones.
AvalonBay Communities, the third largest owner and operator of apartments in the US, has invested in the company and deployed the technology across its portfolio of properties.
The VC-backed property-tech vertical has struggled to bounce back after hitting record highs three years ago. In 2024, $2.64 billion has been invested across 404 deals, lagging behind the highs of 2021 when nearly $20 billion was generated from 1,357 deals.
Some investors and founders are betting that AI may help revitalize the industry. Zuma, an AI leasing chatbot, raised a $6.7 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2021. Prophia, specializing in AI real-estate-contracts analysis, raised a $10.2 million Series A in 2022 from Cercano Management.
The startup is also making forays into healthcare, Song said, in an attempt to service other specific industries. She said that a narrow focus is the key to surviving the AI hype gripping VC at the moment.
“These are low-margin businesses, many of which are just basically trying to stay alive,” she said. “Bridging the gap between these businesses, who aren’t able to build their technology, and having AI technology that is available—it takes a specialized company focused on an entire industry to solve for that.”
Featured image by Thomas Winz/Getty Images
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