Bilt Rewards, the fast-growing payments and commerce platform known for turning housing payments into loyalty rewards, has made its first acquisition, purchasing item-level receipt data provider Banyan.
The deal marks a big step in Bilt’s push to integrate deeper analytics into its platform and enhance rewards-driven engagement between residents and neighborhood merchants.
“This acquisition represents a major step forward in our mission to transform how residents engage with their neighborhoods,” said Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of Bilt Rewards.
“By further incorporating Banyan’s item-level intelligence into our platform, we’re able to create truly seamless experiences that drive value for both our members and our network of over 40,000 neighborhood merchants. This is about making commerce more meaningful, more personalized, and more rewarding exactly where people live.”
With Banyan’s technology now under its umbrella, Bilt will gain access to an extensive database of item-level purchase insights, allowing for hyper-personalized rewards and automated benefits. The acquisition enables Bilt to integrate features such as automatic FSA/HSA savings, targeted welcome rewards for residents moving into new neighborhoods, and cross-merchant promotions like validated parking or complimentary ride-sharing based on specific purchases.
The two companies will continue to operate independently, with Banyan maintaining its current partnerships while integrating its item-level intelligence into Bilt’s expanding commerce network. Under the terms of the deal, Banyan CEO Jehan Luth will remain at the helm of Banyan and collaborate with Bilt on product development and merchant expansion efforts.
Bilt Rewards has built a business model centered on transforming the $2.1 trillion housing payments market into a rewards-driven ecosystem. Its network connects property managers, residents and merchants, allowing consumers to earn and redeem rewards for everyday spending in their local communities. Merchants benefit from targeted access to consumers based on their neighborhood purchasing behaviors, while property managers use Bilt’s platform to increase on-time payments and enhance tenant loyalty.
Banyan, on the other hand, specializes in item-level receipt data, offering deep insights into consumer purchasing habits. Its platform has processed over $200 billion in transactions and analyzed more than 20 billion receipts, giving merchants precise visibility into buying patterns. The company’s data infrastructure has already powered FSA/HSA integrations at major retailers like Walgreens and is expected to scale further under Bilt’s umbrella.
“At Banyan, we’ve built a trusted item-level receipt data platform that connects the who, what and where of commerce,” Luth said. “By joining forces with Bilt, we can implement our technology at scale, creating experiences that feel magical for consumers while delivering measurable results for merchants. We’re excited to combine our item-level precision with Bilt’s neighborhood commerce network to reimagine what’s possible in local commerce.”
Bilt plans to leverage Banyan’s capabilities to expand into new merchant categories beyond dining, fitness and pharmacy. The acquisition paves the way for Bilt to integrate grocery, gas, and parking purchases into its rewards ecosystem, unlocking new engagement opportunities for both consumers and local businesses. The platform will also enable consumer packaged goods companies to offer precise, product-specific rewards at the neighborhood level, significantly boosting marketing efficiency.
With the acquisition complete, Bilt expects to offer merchants greater visibility into neighborhood spending patterns and provide highly targeted offers that can achieve 20 to 60 times the industry average return on investment. The deal underscores a broader trend in FinTech and loyalty programs, where data-driven insights are increasingly driving personalized commerce experiences.
“Our expansion with Banyan allows us to bring neighborhood commerce to life in ways that weren’t previously possible,” Jain added. “We’re creating an ecosystem where the barriers between earning and using rewards disappear, and where the value of being part of our network increases dramatically for every participant.”