Wells Fargo led a $41.5 million investment round for Mynd Property Management, the four-year-old startup led by Doug Brien and Colin Wiel, who previously founded Waypoint Homes.
The Series C funding round happened despite the worst pandemic in over a century plunging the nation into a recession.
“It’s a strong validation of our technology, business, and virtual operations that during one of the most challenging economic cycles in American history we were able to secure $41.5 million in funding,” said Brien, Mynd’s CEO and a former NFL placekicker for teams including the San Francisco 49ers.
Other investors in Mynd’s Series C round of financing included the company’s existing Silicon Valley backers: Canaan Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Jackson Square Ventures.
Mynd manages about 7,500 homes for real estate investors in 16 markets. The company charges mom-and-pop investors a fee to lease units – often remotely, via self-guided tours – and arrange for repairs when needed after diagnosing problems through a video call.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the service more desirable for real estate investors who are trying to protect themselves from the virus, said Wiel, Mynd’s chief technology officer.
“Since day one, we have been focused on providing virtual property management, including remote leasing with self-showings and 3D tours,” Wiel said. “In the COVID-19 era, this is more important than ever.”
The money from the latest funding round will be used to enhance the company’s virtual-management technology tools, he said.
“The impacts of COVID-19 and the need for technology to enable remote operations have forced other property management companies to adapt to a new normal,” Wiel said. “With this Series C funding, we look forward to leading the property management sector into a new technology-focused era.”
Wiel and Brien were previously co-founders of Waypoint Homes, an early institutional landlord that eventually became part of Invitation Homes, now the largest owner of single-family rentals, through a series of mergers.
Wells Fargo, who led this investment round for Mynd, said technology enhances the rental experience for both owners and tenants.
“Wells Fargo is excited to be an equity investor in this tech-enabled company as it continues to improve the virtual property management and leasing experience, and bring a new level of efficiency for real estate investors, owners, renters, and residents,” said Osei Van Horne, managing director of the technology division of Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.
