LAVA

Loyalty Tech · Fintech · Sports/Entertainment

Acquisition

Bilt buys sports loyalty platform LAVA for $300M, expanding beyond housing

Sports fans transact far more often than renters do, giving Bilt a stickier loyalty loop than housing alone could sustain.

• Bilt acquired LAVA, a sports and entertainment loyalty technology platform, in a deal valued at $300 million that closed immediately.
• LAVA, co-founded by Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and CEO Wen Miao, builds real-time loyalty and fan-engagement tech used by 56 pro sports franchises, including the Detroit Lions and Denver Nuggets.
• LAVA's platform runs on more than 300 technology adapters linking point-of-sale, ticketing, identity and payments systems, letting teams bolt on loyalty tools without replacing existing infrastructure.
• Bilt's network spans more than 7 million members and over 50,000 merchant partners, a reach LAVA's 40-person team now plugs into.
• The deal is Bilt's fourth acquisition in under two years, following receipt-data platform Banyan, travel-commission tool Sion ($30 million), and smart-building provider Livly.
• Bilt plans to launch a dedicated live-events division and fuse its AI agents with LAVA's real-time engagement tech to coordinate personalized offers across neighborhoods and stadiums.
• The deal shows loyalty platforms shifting from standalone points programs toward infrastructure that controls merchant relationships, identity data, and payment rails across a consumer's entire life rather than one spending category.