Jetty: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

Category: renters insurance and housing fintech
Pandemic-layoff role: Deepest-cut ranking company
Last updated: 2026-09-25
Related article: The Pandemic Layoff Stress Test

Pandemic-role map

Reader shorthand: renter-fintech provider whose insurance products were exposed to pandemic unemployment.
What Jetty did for customers: sold renters insurance, security-deposit insurance, lease guarantees and pet insurance, mostly through landlords and property managers.
What changed in the pandemic: as unemployment rose, products that covered lost rent became riskier to write, and Jetty and its reinsurer paused all new policies in March 2020.
Relief role: PPP borrower. Two Jetty companies took $1,575,570 in April 2020, and both loans were forgiven. Jetty was not a lender or public-benefits channel.
Data/tool role: a housing-fintech case where pandemic pressure came through renters' jobs and the reinsurer's appetite for risk.

Founders, Executives, and Investors

Jetty was founded in 2016 in New York. Business Insider identified Michael Rudoy, the chief executive, and Luke Cohler, the president, as co-founders. By April 2020 Jetty had raised $40.5 million in three rounds, most recently a $25 million Series B in February 2019 led by Khosla Ventures with Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures and Ribbit Capital.

Later money came from a $23 million round in 2021 co-led by Citi and Flourish Ventures, with Credit Ease and K5 participating, which brought its total to $78 million. Farmers Insurance Group was already a backer. In May 2022 PayPal Ventures and Experian Ventures invested.

Business Before the Pandemic

Jetty's best-known product replaced a cash security deposit with insurance. The renter paid a non-refundable premium, 17.5% of the deposit in Jetty's case, and the policy covered the landlord. It also offered lease guarantees, renters insurance and pet insurance. Munich Re's Digital Partners unit reinsured the policies or bought the underlying risk. Business Insider named Rhino, LeaseLock, Obligo and TheGuarantors as competitors.

What the Pandemic Changed

Late in March 2020, Jetty emailed its landlord customers that it and Munich Re were pausing sales of all new policies. The products left Jetty "on the hook to repay lost rent as unemployment surges," Business Insider wrote. A Munich Re Digital Partners executive said insurers commonly pause new sales in times of uncertainty and that they expected to resume "in the near future."

Days later Jetty laid off about 35 of its roughly 90 employees, 40% of staff, mostly in business roles in New York. The affected staff were told on a Friday and received severance. A company spokesperson said the cuts had been planned before the pause and were unrelated to it.

Then Jetty borrowed from the Paycheck Protection Program. SBA's loan-level data show two loans to companies named on jetty.com, both at the same New York address: Jetty National, Inc, which holds the site's copyright, and Jetty Insurance Agency LLC, its licensed insurance agency.

Jetty National Inc: $1,318,420 from Emigrant Bank, approved April 14, 2020, 61 jobs reported. Forgiven on March 12, 2021 for $1,330,267.72, principal plus interest.
Jetty Insurance Agency LLC: $257,150 from U.S. Bank, approved April 16, 2020, 29 jobs reported. Forgiven on April 8, 2021 for $259,635.78.

The two applications reported 90 jobs between them, the headcount Business Insider gave for Jetty before the layoff.

Business After the First Shock

Jetty had 100 employees by September 2021, when it opened Jetty Rent to the public after a beta with the property manager Cortland. Renters could have Jetty pay the rent in full on the first of the month and repay it by the 24th for a monthly fee of $15 to $25, with no interest or late fees. The 2022 PayPal and Experian money went to a new credit-building service for renters.

Where the Company Is Now

Jetty merged with Rhino, its security-deposit-insurance rival, in an announcement dated February 6, 2025. The companies said the combined business serves more than 6 million rental units, works with 47 of the National Multifamily Housing Council's top 100 property owners and has helped renters keep more than $4 billion in move-in costs. Rhino's COO, Georges Clement, became chief executive of the combined company, headquartered in New York, and Rudoy joined its board. The companies said they would keep offering both product suites, and jetty.com was still selling Jetty Deposit and Jetty Protect in 2026.

Jetty Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status