Marlette Holdings, Inc., north Wilmington, announced the acquisition of Till, Inc., a flexible rent platform. Till will be rebranded under Marlette’s Best Egg brand and incorporated into the Best Egg financial platform.
Financial terms of the acquisition of the Alexandria, VA, company were not disclosed. Both Til and Marlette are privately held. Marlette has 300 employees.
Till’s flexible rent platform allows renters to smooth out their rental payments, breaking each month’s payment into smaller amounts that are paid throughout the month. Flexible rent aims to align a big expense with an individual’s cash flow, a release stated.
Fees for the service are built into the flexible rent payment, with the landlord signing up for Til at no charge. The service is also designed to help renters improve their credit scores. New owner Marlette-Best Egg offers credit cards and personal loans for those with lower credit scores.
“Inflation in the U.S. is at a 40-year high, causing many Americans to make difficult decisions regarding their finances,” said Jeffrey Meiler, founder and CEO of Marlette Holdings. “The acquisition of Till is coming at the right time – it is absolutely the right product to offer customers greater payment flexibility and ultimately make the significant expense of rent more manageable.”
“Best Egg provides simple solutions to help people with limited savings confidently navigate their everyday financial life,” said Meiler. “There are an estimated 48 million residential rental units in the U.S., and for many tenants, rent is their largest monthly expense. Being able to offer our customers this unique, personalized, and flexible approach toward their rental payments is just the start. The team at Till has deep experience in the rental real estate market, and we look forward to this new leadership team developing more innovative product offerings for the Best Egg portfolio.”
“When we founded Till in 2018, we knew there was a gap in the marketplace for this type of personalized, flexible payment support to renters,” said David Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Till. “Flexible Rent empowers renters to take control of one of their largest, recurring expenses and avoid costly late fees while empowering them with a personalized experience. We are thrilled to leverage Best Egg’s scale, best-in-class technology, and funding capabilities to make flexible rent ubiquitous in the industry. Alongside Best Egg and our amazing partners, we will help millions of renters pay rent successfully every month.”
“The Till acquisition is an example of how we can leverage our strong financial position and capital markets expertise to scale innovative products,” said Andrew Deringer, Chief Capital Officer at Best Egg. “We will continue to look for strategic opportunities that create value for our customers as well as our shareholders.”
