Dwelly has raised $170 million to support its artificial intelligence-based approach to property management. The funding was co-led by EQT Growth and General Catalyst, including investments from existing investors s16vc, and supported by Philippe Fraise from KKR and Begin Capital, DVC, as well as several leading European AI founders.
The deal includes $95 million in equity and $75 million in debt from Trinity Capital. This brings the total funding for the proptech group to over $260 million in less than a year. These funds are intended to drive growth, finance further mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities, and invest in the company's technology platform.
Dwelly was founded last year by Ilya Drozdov, Dan Lifshitz, and Dmitry Khanukov as an alternative way to modernize the rental market in the UK. Instead, the company focuses on acquiring and consolidating small independent real estate agencies under its own AI-powered umbrella. The AI system is used to handle tenant inquiries, registration processes, communication, maintenance task management, rent collection, and understanding regulatory requirements.
Human personnel are retained for tasks requiring human intuition and experience, rather than routine administrative work. Ilya Drozdov, CEO, stated that Dwelly was initially developed with the premise that artificial intelligence would eventually take over any operational task. He explained that automation allows real estate specialists to act as trusted consultants while AI manages routine workflows in the background.
Dwelly claims that its model has significantly increased productivity: property managers on the platform can oversee over 300 properties each, compared to approximately 100 properties in traditional models. The UK rental market remains highly fragmented, with about 20,000 agencies across the country. According to Dwelly, the top 100 firms control less than a third of the market, creating significant opportunities for consolidation through acquisitions.
The company began its market penetration by acquiring Lime Property, based in Hull, and subsequently expanded its portfolio through additional purchases. Each acquired agency is integrated into Dwelly's AI infrastructure from the outset, instead of retaining outdated operating systems. General Catalyst partner Zeynep Yavuz-Wilson noted that the company is transforming the rental experience, allowing tenants to receive answers in seconds, quickly schedule property viewings, and finalize contracts digitally without visiting physical offices.
EQT Growth Managing Director Nils Petter Nygaard believes that the future of real estate services will depend on operational innovations, not just agency consolidation, arguing that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change how agencies provide services. The company plans to use the new funding to continue acquiring UK real estate agencies and strengthening its AI platform. Furthermore, it intends to automate more complex compliance and maintenance processes as operations scale.
In addition to acquisitions, Dwelly is developing additional financial products for landlords and tenants. Future developments and new services include rental guarantees, legal protection offerings, financing tools, and contractor marketplaces aimed at simplifying property buying and management. Plans for international expansion into selected European markets are also being considered after establishing a presence in the UK. To support growth plans and product development, the company plans to increase its staff from approximately 300 to 1,500 by the end of the year.
The tech startup Genius AI has raised $44 million in investment to capitalize on the growing demand in the personal interaction-focused service economy. With this Series D funding round, the company's valuation reached $1.15 billion.
Venture firm Lux Capital led the round. Other investors included Bessemer Venture Partners, Imaginary Ventures, L Catterton Growth, 2048 Ventures, and StepStone Private Ventures. These funds will allow Genius AI to shift its focus from beauty booking software to autonomous artificial intelligence tools for a wider range of in-person services.
The company, formerly known as GlossGenius, was founded in 2015 by identical sisters Danielle and Leah Cohen-Shohet. They initially created GlossGenius to help salon owners, aestheticians, and spa operators manage their daily operations. Danielle independently learned programming and wrote the initial code, and over time, the software became a dominant force in the market, helping small businesses process payments, book clients, and promote their services.
The company is now changing its name to Genius AI, signifying a broader mission. As Genius AI, the platform will support all in-person professionals. It is planned for use in medical spas, physical therapy centers, fitness studios, injections, and health clinics.
The physical service economy in the United States includes about eight million businesses generating over $2 trillion in annual consumer spending. Although studies show that business owners spend nearly 36% of their working time on administrative tasks, Genius AI aims to completely eliminate this bureaucratic burden. The platform goes beyond simple assistance tools and transforms into an autonomous AI agent capable of handling complex tasks end-to-end, freeing up business owners to interact with clients.
The company demonstrates impressive growth and operational scale. Currently, the system is used by over 125,000 businesses across half of the US zip codes. Genius AI reports that its platform is approaching $200 million in annual revenue. To date, the company's tools have helped clients save over 112 million hours of administrative work. To deepen penetration into the healthcare sector, the company has added full HIPAA compliance, allowing physical therapists and clinical specialists to securely store sensitive patient data. This gives Genius AI a significant advantage over traditional tools lacking privacy protection. As artificial intelligence automates office work, human care becomes even more valuable, as skilled professionals like masseuses and trainers provide care that computer code cannot replicate. The new funding is planned to be used to expand software development and increase the engineering team.
Gritt has successfully raised $26 million in investments that will be used to scale infrastructure automation using artificial intelligence. Obvious Ventures led the round, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Active Impact Investments, and existing investors, including First Round Capital, Climactic, Congruent Ventures, and VSC Ventures.
With this new injection of capital, Gritt's total funding has reached $32.4 million. The company plans to use the acquired capital to expand its operations and further develop an intelligent robotic platform designed for complex outdoor construction environments.
Founded by Punith Puri and Vishal Dugar, Gritt develops robotic systems to automate construction equipment. Its AI-based system can autonomously perform tasks such as material handling, assembly, placement, inspection, and project planning. Gritt's technology integrates with existing equipment on sites, allowing contractors to apply automation to their machinery and ensuring safe collaboration between robots and humans.
CEO Punith Puri noted that automating outdoor construction is more complex due to changing weather conditions, terrain specifics, and other unforeseen factors. He emphasized that their 'Physical AI' is specifically designed for such tasks, enabling the acceleration of construction for solar, bridge, and road projects, as well as large infrastructure projects like data centers, with robot support.
The company's platform continuously improves through learning from every completed project. Tasks that previously required months of system setup can now be adapted in just a few days, allowing robots to perform high-precision work on various construction sites. In addition to automation, Gritt collects real-time data from sites, including information on completed work, material movement, and changes in site conditions. This information helps project managers make faster decisions and optimize schedules.
The company has already implemented its systems in several large American construction firms involved in industrial-scale solar panel installation. According to Gritt, their robots have independently installed tens of thousands of solar panels without a single failure. Demand for automation is supported by industry challenges: it is expected that over 40% of the US construction workforce will retire by 2031, and the sector's overall productivity is declining, forcing companies to turn to AI and robotics to solve labor shortages.
Obvious Ventures stated that Gritt is creating a new category of physical AI by implementing intelligent automation in one of the most demanding industrial environments. Investors believe that the company's ability to learn after each deployment gives it a long-term competitive advantage. Gritt's long-term goal is to transform AI into a comprehensive object condition analysis platform that tracks resource usage, identifies potential workflow obstacles, and assists project managers in making real-time decisions. Ultimately, the startup aims to reduce manual labor for construction workers and allow contractors to accelerate the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects, believing that intelligent robotics will become an integral part of modern construction.
