KIAVI

As one of the nation’s top lenders for residential real estate investors, Kiavi harnesses the power of data and technology to provide a simpler, more reliable, and faster way to access the capital investors need to scale their businesses.

Founded in 2013 as LendingHome, the San Francisco-based company quickly conquered the mortgage marketplace for property investors, with more than $1B in loan origination. With the backing of Foundation Capital, a venture capital firm, LendingHome then turned its attention to the “Mount Everest” of mortgage lending: consumers.

To reach this new market and secure its core business, LendingHome turned to BrandingBusiness to develop a brand strategy to position the company as the next great financial services brand, powered by the most advanced mortgage platform in the world.

The business opportunity was clear: 65% of housing stock in US is more than 30 years old and in need of upgrading and renovating. As the demand for move-in-ready homes continues to grow, residential real estate investors are needed more than ever.

The name “LendingHome” placed the company in the traditional lending solutions business. With its built-from-scratch technology that covers every stage of the loan process, the company opened access and simplified a way for real estate investors—both novice and experienced—to get financing, generate wealth, and build businesses.

An extensive competitive analysis revealed a high degree of messaging and visual parity across the industry, which makes it difficult for prospective customers to discern meaningful differences across the landscape of brands.

Customer research revealed that the company uniquely excelled at providing investors with fast and assured access to capital, reducing the time necessary to get funding (from application to financing). And with its technology platform, the company is uniquely able to give real estate investors visibility across the entire investment lifecycle, empowering them with the intelligence to act, the timely capital to close, and the confidence to scale their businesses.

Backed by our research insights, the company was repositioned as a technology and analytics-based investment company, purpose-built to partner with real estate investors to unlock and monetize the true value of America’s aged homes.

The Brand Driver, “The Speed to Close. The Power to Scale,” encapsulates the company mission – to empower real estate investors with modern technology, timely capital to fund opportunities, and the confidence required to unlock the value of America’s aged homes.

The new strategy needed a new name. Out of more than 1,200 names generated, one candidate emerged from the pack: Kiavi, a three-syllable neologism based on the phonetic representation of the Italian word, chiave (kee-ah-vee), which means “key” – an apt metaphor for the company’s mission of rejuvenating and unlocking the value of the nation’s aged homes.

The new brand name needed an equally powerful set of visual and digital assets. The new logo integrates an upward-pointing arrow symbol that also suggests the outline of a building, with a tilted rectangle symbolizing an open door. The symbol fixes Kiavi firmly in its industry, while conveying openness the opportunities and the ability to unlock and monetize value.

The visual identity system positions Kiavi as a dependable, intelligent, approachable, and agile company. The new look and feel is ideally suited to communicate Kiavi an investor-friendly partner ready to empower its customers around the country to grow with confidence.