Bilt, the fintech known for rewarding consumers for rent payments, announced the launch of its Bilt Neighborhood operating system on November 10, PYMNTS reported. The AI-powered platform is meant to open Bilt's technology and neighborhood commerce network to businesses and communities beyond housing.
According to PYMNTS, the platform is designed to help businesses reach audiences from residential communities as well as offices, hotels and sports teams, and lets them add Bilt AI agents to their systems for guest services, customer communications and marketing. In its release, Bilt said about $6.6 trillion of the roughly $8 trillion U.S. retail market is in-person retail and food-services spending, and that many local businesses rely on disconnected systems and limited tools for acquisition, loyalty and measurement.
Founder and CEO Ankur Jain told Bloomberg News that local physical businesses "have a chance to get the capabilities and tools that have previously been reserved for only online sellers." The launch follows Bilt's announcement, a little more than a week earlier, that it is acquiring sports and entertainment loyalty platform Lava in a $300 million deal, bringing partnerships with 56 professional sports franchises.