Proptech Sale-Leaseback Startup Keyway Raises $15M Seed Round
Firm emerges from stealth mode using data science to focus on identifying capital opportunities for medical operators
By Philip Russo November 12, 2021 10:24 am
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Keyway, a proptech startup that uses data science to identify commercial real estate opportunities and to provide the capital to facilitate transactions, has raised a $15 million seed round, the company announced Friday.
The year-old, Manhattan-based startup is initially focusing on the medical offices vertical, said CEO and co-founder Matias Recchia.
“Our first product is a sale-leaseback solution focused in the medical sector — doctors, veterinarians and dentists that own their real estate,” Recchia said. “We offer them a simple and fast sale-leaseback solution where they sell the real estate to us, and we sign a long-term lease so that they can stay in the same location operating as if they are the owners of the real estate.”
The seed round was led by canvas ventures with participation from montage ventures, FJ Labs, and Crosscut. In addition, Rebecca Lynn, co-founder and general partner at Keyway investor Canvas Ventures, has joined Keyway’s board.
“Keyway is uniquely positioned to modernize the commercial sale-leaseback process as well as reinvent the market for SMB commercial real estate overall. By evolving the way real estate is transacted using data science and machine learning, Keyway will help property owners benefit from greater transparency and improved returns,” Lynn said. “We have no doubt that Matias and the impressive Keyway team have what it takes to build the next-gen digital platform for commercial real estate transactions.”
This capital injection allows Keyway to triple its team, primarily in engineering and product. That team already includes alumni from Goldman Sachs, Capital One, Jamestown, Google, and Brookfield.
“We do everything to source opportunities,” Recchia said. “We use data science to map relevant assets in the market. So far, we’ve mapped over 160,000 single-tenant medical buildings across the U.S. We then use data to analyze the opportunities, to automate pricing and underwriting and then we digitize the closing of the transactions.”
That initial sale-leaseback solution is aimed at business owners looking for liquidity, which can be difficult to come by, the company said in a statement. Additional products will follow in the coming months, including an expansion solution for operators looking to lease a new location and a rent-to-own service.
Keyway is looking to expand its services to the industrial and fast food real estate sectors, as well, Recchia said.
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.
