Market Expansion without Dilution: Deckards Use of Venture Debt

Meet Deckard Technologies

Deckard Technologies is a GovTech data platform that helps municipalities improve compliance and optimise tax revenue across property rentals.

The company has delivered 50–60% YoY revenue growth for three consecutive years, now working with more than 400 jurisdictions across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Through its flagship product, Rentalscape, Deckard empowers governments in their oversight and compliance of over 250,000 short-term rentals (STR).

Scaling into Long-Term Rentals

Having established itself as the leading STR compliance provider, Deckard is now extending its expertise into long-term rental (LTR) compliance. This shift directly addresses growing municipal challenges like housing affordability, tenant safety, and long-term property compliance, areas where local governments are under growing pressure to modernise oversight.

The LTR compliance market is estimated at 3–7x larger than STR in the U.S. alone, creating a substantial growth opportunity.

Funding the Expansion Without Dilution

Deckard partnered with Mighty to fund its expansion through a $6M non-dilutive venture debt facility.

The company already had strong equity backing, led by EVP, who had supported the business throughout its growth to date. As the opportunity to expand into the long-term rentals market emerged, the founders evaluated how best to fund the initiative.

The expansion was not speculative. It represented a clearly defined growth opportunity with expected returns that could be modelled with a high degree of confidence. Given the company’s existing growth trajectory and the economics of the opportunity, the team assessed whether raising additional equity was the most appropriate source of capital.

The initiative was underwritten internally, projected cash flows were stress tested, and the impact of different funding options on ownership and future financing flexibility was considered.

On that basis, venture debt proved to be the most efficient tool. The facility allowed Deckard to fund the expansion while maintaining momentum in its core business and preserving ownership for founders and existing shareholders.

Importantly, it removed the need to run a fundraising process during a critical scaling phase. Equity rounds require significant time and attention from leadership teams and often mean introducing new investors onto the cap table. By using structured debt, the team was able to remain focused on execution.

This approach also allows the company to execute on its growth plan first, before returning to the equity markets to raise capital at a higher valuation and on more favourable terms.

As with any debt strategy, the approach requires confidence in the underlying economics of the expansion and the ability of the business to service repayments. In Deckard’s case, the combination of strong revenue growth and disciplined financial modelling made the decision clear.

Achievements

Nearly half of US homes are long term rentals, yet most local governments lack a reliable system to identify them. Without accurate data, cities struggle to distinguish rentals from owner occupied properties, enforce registration requirements, or communicate effectively with tenants on safety and community matters.

Since funding, Deckard has accelerated its expansion into the long-term rental market, providing municipalities with the data infrastructure needed for smarter planning and public engagement.

ARR has increased a further 25% in just 6 months following the facility.

If you are considering venture debt to support growth, explore our facilities or contact the Mighty team to learn more.