Viva Benefits Raises $2.2M led by Chingona Ventures to Make Renter Benefits Mainstream

[Austin, November 14, 2024] — Viva Benefits (“Viva”) is excited to announce a $2.2 million pre-seed fundraising round led by Chingona Ventures. This funding will accelerate Viva's mission to make renter benefits mainstream and help bridge the 40X wealth equity gap between renters and homeowners.

With a median renter's net wealth at approximately $10,000 — compared to $400,000 for the median homeowner, primarily due to home equity — Viva addresses the 40X disparity by empowering housing partners to offer life-changing renter benefits.

Viva enables renters — including primarily diverse, low- to middle-income families — access to essential benefits like health, education, and financial wellness. Examples include: telehealth, virtual tutoring for kids, cash back in a high-yield savings account, and pre-qualification for grants to buy a home. This helps renters to stay healthy and happily employed, so they can pay their rent, maintain a stable home, and build wealth to make forward progress on their personal goals, like homeownership.

Viva's data gathered from multiple housing partners since 2021 shows providing these renter benefits can increase housing partners' Net Operating Income (NOI) by up to 9%, through increased retention, and reduced costs from turnover and bad debt.

Dr. Michael Barnes, CEO and Co-founder: “We are ready to help make renter benefits as commonplace as employer benefits, and for our housing partners to reap the same rewards employers do — from increased retention to reduced expenses.”

Samara Hernandez, GP at Chingona Ventures: “We are excited to invest in Viva because the founding team understands the real estate and property technology market and Viva has a clear path to scale.”

In 2024, Viva scaled from 3,000 to 24,000 renter households in their network, an 800% increase in growth.

The fundraising was led by Chingona Ventures. Additional investors include Graham & Walker, Techstars Ventures, Altari Ventures, Everywhere Ventures, Vitalize Angels, Atlanta Technology Angels, and notable angel investors including PadSplit CEO Atticus LeBlanc, and Bob Simpson, founder of the Multifamily Impact Council. Chingona Ventures' GP Samara Hernandez is now a member of the Viva Board.

About Viva Benefits
Viva Benefits is a network of affordable housing partners that helps renters access essential benefits like health, education, and financial wellness. Examples may vary by community, but include:

• Access to a 24/7 virtual doctor
• Access to a bilingual virtual tutor for kids
• Access to a fee-free high-yield savings account
• Cash back programs to help renters build emergency savings
• Access to grants worth $4,000+ to help with the transition to homeownership.

Viva's unique approach allows housing partners to bundle and deliver a custom package of employer-grade benefits directly to renters, while also providing a data dashboard to verify the return on investment (ROI).

Impact and Reach
Currently, Viva works with 12+ B2B housing partners and serves more than 24,000 families across Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, and other states. Additionally, Viva is ready to scale nation-wide. To accelerate broad access to renter benefits, and to enable housing partners to test the product today in any U.S. market, Viva introduced a free consumer-facing product with a foundational set of benefits available to all U.S. residents. The consumer website even features an innovative map showcasing over 1 million affordable housing units nationwide, with filters for specific benefit offerings.

Revenue Model and Partner Benefits
Viva's revenue is driven by SaaS license fees from housing partners, which include multi-billion-dollar apartment owners as well as non-profit organizations and public housing authorities. Housing partners can see an increase of up to 9% Net Operating Income (NOI), and as rental property financials improve, property values see significant corresponding appreciation.

Founding Team
Viva's mission-driven leadership blends technical and civic expertise, with a track record of building products for millions of Americans. CEO and co-founder Dr. Michael Barnes, a former classroom teacher turned software engineer, draws from experiences balancing budgets as both a renter and landlord. The Viva team started evaluating resident innovations in 2021 by buying a set of experimental apartments in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley, before developing software to scale and serve larger communities. Dr. Barnes previously achieved a successful exit as a social impact founder in the K-12 education sector, showcasing a lifelong commitment to empowering underserved communities.

User Testimonials

Glenda, Viva Renter: “The app is very easy to navigate, I can look into my account 24/7 with no problem. I can just click on the Viva icon and it takes me to where I need to go.”

Shawn, Viva Renter: “I appreciate y'all. Y'all go above and beyond. And customer service is awesome!”

Garcia, Viva Property Manager / Customer: “The Viva team is so awesome! They truly go out of their way to help!”