Bilt, known for rent rewards, is buying sports loyalty tech firm Lava for $300 million. Fans and Bilt members may see rewards that reach well beyond rent.
Bilt Technologies, the company that lets people earn reward points by paying rent with a credit card, has agreed to buy Lava for $300 million. Lava makes technology that helps pro sports teams run fan loyalty programs. The companies announced the deal on Monday.
Lava builds the plumbing behind fan perks. Its platform has more than 300 technology adapters, which are connectors that link ticketing, payments, loyalty, identity and checkout systems. That lets a team or venue recognize a customer, offer personalized benefits and run loyalty programs.
Lava says it works with 56 professional sports franchises. They include the Detroit Lions, the Denver Nuggets and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Bilt says it has about 7 million members and partnerships with about 50,000 merchants. With Lava, it plans to pair its artificial intelligence agents with Lava's real-time engagement technology. The goal is personalized benefits through local businesses, based on a web of shared data points.
Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain called it a new frontier for membership and loyalty. Lava CEO Wen Miao put it simply: loyalty should not begin and end on game day.
The deal comes after a rough stretch for Bilt. According to The Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo cut short a credit-card partnership last year over concerns it was losing money. It was meant to run through 2029. In June, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Bilt to reimburse roughly 500 customers for fees charged during its move to a new bank partner.
Payments Dive reports the Lava deal may help Bilt move past the public split with Wells Fargo.
Bilt members and sports fans could see rewards that extend past rent and game day, such as perks at nearby businesses. Those perks depend on shared data points. Before signing up for any program, check what information it collects and who else can see it.
Bilt is buying Lava to bring rewards to sports fans and local businesses, so check what data you share before joining.
A former Nvidia product manager has started Udu Technologies to let African startups and institutions rent AI computing power instead of buying it.
Read more: Ex-Nvidia engineer starts company to bring AI computing power to AfricaGenRobot AI raised $100 million to record how people work, so robot makers can use those recordings to teach machines home, factory and warehouse tasks.
Read more: Beijing startup raises $100 million to teach robots by watching peopleRecruiters say AI now handles much of the screening work, so employers may start asking what a fee of a share of a new hire's salary actually pays for.
Read more: AI is speeding up hiring and putting recruiter fees under pressure
