MeetElise's $6.5M Series A Marks Turning Point for AI-Powered Apartment Leasing

The apartment leasing industry is experiencing a significant transformation. MeetElise, an artificial intelligence-driven leasing platform, has just closed a Series A funding round of $6.5M led by Navitas Capital, bringing its total capital raised to $8.5M. What makes this milestone particularly notable is not just the funding amount, but the caliber of investors backing the company and the real-world impact the technology is already delivering.

How One AI Agent is Reshaping Property Management

At its core, MeetElise operates a conversational AI assistant named Elise that handles the repetitive communication tasks between prospective renters and property managers. Founded in 2017 by Minna Song (MIT graduate) and Tony Stoyanov (University of Cambridge alumnus), the platform uses advanced natural language processing to bridge communication gaps that have historically plagued the rental market.

The results speak for themselves. Properties using MeetElise have seen leasing conversion rates improve by more than 65% compared to traditional methods. The AI operates around the clock—responding to emails, calls, and texts instantly—which has freed up leasing teams to dedicate 2-3 additional hours daily to higher-value activities. For a property management industry often stretched thin during peak leasing seasons, this represents a meaningful operational efficiency gain.

Currently, MeetElise powers the leasing operations for over 250,000 apartment homes across the country, a figure that has grown substantially over the past year, particularly during the pandemic when contactless interactions became not just preferable but essential.

Major Real Estate Players Are Now Investors, Not Just Customers

The Series A round attracted significant backing from established real estate operators. Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), which manages over 80,000 apartment homes, and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB), which oversees more than 86,000 units, both participated as direct investors alongside Navitas and Golden Seeds.

This investor composition reveals an important shift in the real estate industry. Large-scale property operators are increasingly willing to back emerging technology solutions that demonstrate clear ROI, rather than waiting for third-party developers to solve their operational challenges. Karen Hollinger, SVP of Strategic Initiatives at AvalonBay, emphasized this point: “MeetElise serves as a bright spot within proptech—an easy-to-deploy technology solution that replaces a manual process and produces immediate ROI.”

The Self-Guided Tour Pivot

Beyond its core AI assistant, MeetElise recently launched a beta version of Self-Guided Tours, a complementary product designed to address pandemic-era concerns around safety and accessibility. The feature integrates with Matterport (3D virtual tour technology) and igloohome (smart lock access) to enable renters to explore apartments independently without requiring scheduled appointments with leasing staff.

This product evolution underscores a broader theme: the rental market is permanently shifting toward digital-first workflows. The pandemic accelerated this transition, but the infrastructure being built now—like MeetElise’s platform—will outlast the immediate crisis.

What’s Next: Expansion Beyond Enterprise

While MeetElise has primarily focused on large portfolio operators, the Series A funding will be directed toward expanding the platform’s accessibility for small and mid-sized property management companies. This democratization of AI-powered leasing technology could amplify the industry-wide impact significantly.

The company is simultaneously on a hiring spree, recruiting software engineers, customer success managers, marketing specialists, and sales professionals. The team already includes talent from major tech companies including Microsoft, WeWork, and Zillow, signaling the caliber of expertise being assembled to scale the platform.

The Bigger Picture: Technology Meets Real Estate

Louis Schotsky, the Navitas Managing Partner leading the investment, frames the opportunity broadly: “Leasing as we know it is being fundamentally disrupted—and the pandemic is only accelerating this shift.” His credentials add weight to this assessment; he spent 13 years at Equity Residential managing operations and investments before joining Navitas, giving him deep insider perspective on both the industry’s pain points and technology’s potential to solve them.

MeetElise’s trajectory—from quietly deploying across major portfolios to now attracting top-tier venture capital—reflects a maturing conversation around proptech. The days of experimental, niche real estate tech are fading; what’s emerging instead is proven, deployable solutions backed by operators who have validated the business case firsthand.

For the broader apartment leasing market, this Series A round signals that the shift toward AI-assisted, 24/7 customer service isn’t coming—it’s already here.