Business Wire
Strategic acquisition accelerates Bilt’s vision of creating seamless, rewarding experiences between residents and local merchants
Bilt Rewards, the leading payments and commerce platform transforming the $2.1 trillion housing payments market, today announced the acquisition of Banyan, the industry-leading platform for item-level receipt data. This strategic acquisition—Bilt’s first—significantly expands Bilt’s ability to create innovative, frictionless experiences that drive neighborhood commerce and deliver unprecedented value to both residents and local merchants.
Banyan’s technology will power the next generation of neighborhood commerce, enabling hyper-personalized rewards and automated benefits that strengthen connections between residents and local businesses. By acquiring Banyan’s platform, which has analyzed more than 20 billion receipts and processed hundreds of billions in spend, Bilt will accelerate the development of groundbreaking commerce experiences that make everyday neighborhood spending more rewarding.
“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.”
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Powering the Next Generation of Neighborhood Commerce
The acquisition enables Bilt to develop several innovative capabilities that will reshape how residents interact with neighborhood businesses:
- Automatic FSA/HSA Savings: Expanding Bilt’s successful FSA/HSA program—already powered by Banyan’s technology at Walgreens—this capability will now extend to more neighborhood merchants. The program will automatically identify potentially eligible purchases, file for FSA/HSA reimbursement, and save members up to 40% on qualifying items—with zero effort required.
- New Resident Welcome Experiences: The acquisition enables neighborhood merchants to offer personalized rewards on home essentials like cleaning supplies, paper goods, and pantry staples when Bilt members move into a new neighborhood, helping establish shopping routines that benefit local businesses.
- Brand-Powered Rewards: Consumer packaged goods companies can now offer targeted rewards when residents purchase specific products at neighborhood merchants, creating triple-win scenarios for brands, local businesses, and residents.
- Cross-Merchant Experiences: Banyan’s item-level receipt data enables the creation of seamless connected experiences across merchants, such as complimentary rides to neighborhood restaurants triggered by specific food purchases, or validated parking at local retail based on purchase categories and amounts—all activated automatically through precise receipt analysis.
“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.”
Expanding Merchant Network and Categories
The acquisition is intended to accelerate Bilt’s expansion into new merchant categories beyond dining, fitness, and pharmacy to include grocery, gas, parking, and more—creating a comprehensive neighborhood commerce network. Partner merchants will benefit from unprecedented visibility into neighborhood spending patterns and the ability to reach residents with precisely targeted offers that can achieve 20-60X the industry average return on investment.
“At Banyan, we’ve built a trusted item-level receipt data platform that connects the who, what, and where of commerce,” said Jehan Luth, Founder and CEO of Banyan. “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.”
Following the acquisition, Banyan will continue to operate independently under Luth’s leadership while collaborating closely with Bilt to enhance the neighborhood commerce ecosystem. The Banyan platform will maintain existing client relationships and services while expanding its capabilities through Bilt’s network.
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