Ankur Jain (Bilt) on Turning Rent Into Rewards, Raising $250M, and Reinventing the Path to Homeownership

What if paying rent could actually help you own a home someday? That’s exactly the idea Ankur Jain ran with when he launched Bilt Rewards, the first loyalty program that lets renters earn points on rent—and it’s now backed by over 2 million units nationwide, plus Mastercard, Wells Fargo and more.

Sammi sits down with Ankur to unpack how he built one of the most disruptive fintech startups in the housing space, why homeownership is getting harder for younger generations, and how Built is changing that. From navigating brutal regulatory red tape to raising $250 million in funding, Ankur shares what it really takes to scale a company that aims to fix real-world problems.

He also opens up about his time at Tinder, his immigrant roots, the flaws of traditional venture capital, and his unbelievable wedding at the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Here’s what Sammi covers with Ankur:

00:00 Ankur Jain’s Social Currency

02:04 Ankur's Time at Tinder

03:55 How Private Companies Can Solve Public Problems 

14:08 COVID-19’s Unexpected Impact on Bilt

18:12 Ankur’s 18 Months in DC Tackling Regulatory Hurdles

22:42 Building a Complex Ecosystem

26:37 The Bilt Model and Connecting Renters with Merchants

31:36 Ankur’s Take on Fundraising

38:14 Surprising Gen Z and Millennial Money Habits

41:55 The Benefits of Working with Friends

44:27 The Future of Living

46:31 Social Currency Corner

47:58 The Wedding of the Century

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