Vishal Lugani’s Post

People are missing what Bilt Rewards is building. Bilt is not just a credit card company. If it were just a credit card business, it'd still be a good business. But Bilt is building something much more ambitious and the credit card remains a clever wedge. *Post (1/2): this one focused on the broader vision given we are investors, and the next one focused on the Bilt credit card.* ~ 👨 👩 Of the millions of Bilt members, ~15% are credit card users. Meaning, the card, which a lot of people use and love, is a subset of Bilt's larger biz. 🛍 🛒 When these Bilt members use any Visa, AMEX, or Mastercard, they earn rewards in a way that aligns with how Bilt also gets paid. 🛫 💎 Bilt has its own points system and offers an industry leading set of perks and transfer partners. ~ None of this is novel per se. It's really hard to put together, but not novel. This is how rewards networks and credit cards work. Bilt's key insight was that for renters (1/3 of the US population), and soon, for homeowners, earnings points on their spend on housing and the local economy is pretty cool. You get paid on travel spend, so why not your biggest expense? ~ But how do you reach a high density of prospective members on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis? ~ On the real estate side: Bilt initially partnered with the US' largest real estate multi-family owners & operators (Related, Brookfield, Greystar, etc.) to onboard these buildings into the Bilt Alliance. As an aside, these buildings form the basis of Bilt's co-brand relationship on its credit card (similar to how airline & hotel cards work). What is more, apartment buildings already run on a fragmented set of payment collection, neighborhood discount, and renter loyalty rewards (e.g., incentives for lease renewal) networks. Bilt brings all of these onto one platform. On the merchant side: consider the impact of waves of ecommerce (Amazon, food & grocery delivery, etc.) on neighborhood stores. Many of these merchants already participate in card-linked style rewards networks. They pay-out considerable fees to delivery applications. These merchants are interested in reaching consumers in their neighborhoods who could be regulars; Bilt has the population. All of this did not happen overnight. Ankur Jain and his fellow management team (incl. Daniel Seder, David M. Wyler, Zoe Oz, Brandt Smallwood, among others) have assembled a world class team and list of forward-thinking partners. And they've done so in a incredibly capital efficient manner (which is mind boggling for Silicon Valley). -----------------------> In short, Bilt is providing consumers with a great, merchant funded rewards platform. Under the hood, they are also fast building the largest payments system in the country for rent & mortgage payments.

We are excited to have announced our Series A lead investment in Abett. Founded by Mike Hanlon, the company provides a data layer that enables any self-insured employer in the US to receive a regular and consistent feed of their claims data so they can actually understand healthcare costs, the efficacy of their employee benefits, and how to better serve their employees (to whom they have a fiduciary responsibility). While this sounds like table stakes, it's far from the norm. After payroll, healthcare is the biggest cost consideration for American employers. A majority of Americans receive employer-based health insurance. A majority of those Americans receive insurance from a fully or partially self-funded plan (i.e., the employer is taking risk instead of the insurance company). Abett brings transparency and alignment to a thorny data problem to empower benefits leaders & CFOs. More to come on Acrew Capital's focus on the investing at the intersection of healthcare & data. cc: Mark Kraynak and Kwabena "KB" Nimo for their partnership on this investment.

The Curebase team has been hard at work on their cutting edge software to better enable clinical trials (if you're in the biz, they've specifically built ePRO/COA software that you probably want to use). Big day for Tom Lemberg, Storm Stillman, and team.

I'm really excited for my friends at Westbound Equity Partners (fka Concrete Rose: Sean Mendy, Danae Sterental, Ian Beadle, Will Bumpus) as they announce their second fund. They are great humans and investors and it's been a pleasure to serve as an advisor to their fund.

My friends & fellow board members Dan Rosen and Vivek Krishnamurthy, announced their next fund, alongside the rest of their partnership and team at Commerce Ventures. I've seen first hand how helpful they are to our shared portfolio companies, owing to the quality of the Commerce team and the great network of LPs that entrust them with their investment. Congrat, all.

Looking for recommendations for a world-class growth marketing leader (VP level) to join one of tech’s fastest growing growth stage startups. Consumer internet or fintech experience a plus. Chance to join a scaled, profitable, and cash-rich platform.

Nice run-down of the impact that start-ups are having on the cyber insurance market. While we root for entrepreneurship in general, Mark Kraynak, the Acrew Capital team, and I are a *bit* biased and partial to the amazing work Rotem Iram, Roman Itskovich, and the At-Bay team have been doing in the space. Worth a read. Yes, great blue steel as you said, Rotem.

The Bilt Rewards team is one of the most ambitious teams I've ever met. You'll have to trust me because I've had the privilege of knowing several of the company's leaders for 15+ years. Ankur Jain clearly saw a gap in how consumers are rewarded in the US. And he's joined by excellent leaders like David M. Wyler and Daniel Seder. This new $ will further equip the company to offer a killer financial & rewards solution for Americans (check it out @ www.biltrewards.com). Real estate owners & managers are finding considerable value in being members of the Bilt Alliance. Merchants love being a part of this insanely fast growing rewards network too. How awesome to have a legend like Ken join the board and cap table. Having been glad to be investors, the Acrew Capital team continues to be fired up for the Bilt team.

Our Acrew Capital partner Lauren Kolodny , published in Fortune, on the opportunity to build fintechs aimed at younger consumers. The piece is a good reflection of the thesis related work our fintech team does. And it dovetails with the opportunity we see across consumer broadly. We are in the midst of a series of generational and technological shifts within our society.