Housing in America is broken. 

Most Americans spend their first 15 years after college renting. This means they spend the majority of their disposable income on paying monthly rent - hundreds if not thousands of dollars each month never to be seen again. Not to mention that most of their net worth gets tied up in a security deposit they won’t see for years. At a time when many are just starting out, they’re forced into a cycle of depleting wealth.

Building up savings from there is a long and tedious journey. By the time an individual can buy a home and start reaping the benefits of an appreciating asset, they are on average 36 years old. At this point, the average Millennial would have paid over $200k to their landlord with no return. They’ve missed out on over a decade of compounding wealth generation. 

Up&Up is committed to changing that. We believe every renter, no matter what stage of life they’re in, should have the opportunity to build wealth while they rent. And so we’ve created a new way to rent that gives you the ability to participate in the upside. It’s as easy as renting and as empowering as homeownership.

Here’s how it works. By renting one of Up&Up’s homes, renters participate from Day 1. Instead of a security deposit, renters contribute to their Up&Up Wallet. Their Wallet grows as the real estate market appreciates and as their rental home generates income, which renters have direct control over by paying rent on time and keeping property expenses low. Our renters can then choose to make additional contributions to their Wallet when they’d like. When their lease is up, they choose what to do with the balance of their Wallet. They can put the wealth they’ve accrued towards purchasing their rental home, transfer it to their next rental, or simply cash out.‍

A typical Up&Up renter who contributes $3,000 up front and $100 each month can accumulate $37k in their Up&Up Wallet over 10 years. That’s almost 6x the median net worth of a family who is renting. What’s the catch? Nothing - that’s the same compounding wealth generation that a landlord makes. 

We've built our business on 3 core principles, to always put fairness to renters first.

1. Market rent: our customers never pay above-market rent for access to our product — our rentals are priced exactly like comparable traditional rentals
2. A fair deal: we’ve designed our program so that it’s just as rewarding to be a renter as a property owner
3. Flexibility: renters get to choose what to do with the value that accumulates in their Up&Up Wallet, whether that’s putting it towards purchasing their rental home or simply building a nest egg for the future 

Up&Up is empowering renters to challenge the traditional landlord-renter dynamic and start building towards a better financial future. And today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve raised over $300M of debt and equity since our founding from some of the top venture and real estate investors to bring this concept to the world. We are excited to count Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Backend Capital, GA Capital, First American Financial and key executives at Opendoor, Robinhood, Airbnb and Plaid amongst our venture investors. Our real estate capital providers include Goldman Sachs and funds managed by L2 Point and Rialto Capital.

We have an enormous amount to build as we continue to empower renters across the country. Ping us if building this together seems as exciting and meaningful to you as it does to us!

Learn about our opportunities here.