Grotto AI provides an AI coaching platform that helps multifamily leasing teams improve prospect interactions, personalize calls and tours, and identify the behaviors that drive conversion. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Grotto AI Co-Founder and CEO Nick Deveau to learn more.
Nick Deveau’s Background
When asked about his professional background and the experiences that led him to create Grotto AI, Deveau shared:
I’ve spent the past decade leading machine learning and AI teams across startups building for hiring, healthcare, and insurance. My co-founder Ben and I met at EvolutionIQ, an insurance AI company that was acquired for $730 million in 2024, one of the first major exits of the modern AI era.
That experience gave us a playbook for building vertical AI that drives measurable, balance-sheet-level impact. I’m not originally from the real estate world. My career has been building AI, but that outsider perspective is actually what led us to see the whitespace in multifamily.
How Grotto AI Started
When discussing how the idea for Grotto AI came together, Deveau explained:
When we started looking at multifamily, every AI company in the space was making the same pitch: “We automate away the grunt work to give teams time back for what matters most.” We kept hearing it over and over. And we said, that’s interesting, but nobody is actually building technology for exactly those moments that matter most.
So we dug into the data. We analyzed millions of prospect interactions and found that the single greatest predictor of conversion wasn’t product knowledge, following the perfect script, or even asking for the tour. It was laughter. Agents who initiated laughter were 48% more likely to convert. Genuine curiosity drove a 35% lift.
That told us the most impactful parts of the prospect journey are irreducibly human, and nobody was building technology to supercharge those moments, so we did exactly that.
Supporting On-Site Teams
When asked about his favorite memory from working at Grotto AI, Deveau recalled:
That’s a hard one. I’d say the reaction from on-site teams the first time we implemented our Tour Coaching product. We’d put an enormous amount of effort and time into making sure the product felt true to our values, to be something that enables humans to shine and feels supportive.
During the first on-site training, we had agents say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so glad management is spending money on this for us.” We had agents saying how this felt like a 10x improvement over the status quo of secret shopping, where a quarterly visit from a secret shopper could influence their entire performance review for the year.
It felt like we’d nailed exactly what we set out to do: build a tool to support people in showing up as the best versions of themselves.
Grotto AI’s Core Platform
When describing Grotto AI’s core products and features, Deveau detailed:
Grotto supercharges leasing teams during the human-to-human moments that drive conversion. Our platform works in three steps.
First, we learn what drives conversion. We analyze historical prospect interactions specific to each customer, uncovering what’s working, who’s driving results, and where opportunities exist. We then build a unique AI model and playbook for each property.
Second, we coach in real time. During live calls, agents get guidance that helps them build rapport and uncover renter needs. During tours, they get preparation to personalize the experience and immediate feedback afterward.
Third, we surface portfolio insights. This includes property- and agent-level performance data based on scoring every single prospect interaction, plus unprecedented visibility into renter preferences and decision-making.
Keeping Humans In The Loop
When asked about the challenges Grotto AI has faced in the multifamily AI market and how the company has addressed them, Deveau noted:
The biggest challenge is that the prevailing narrative in multifamily AI has been full automation, or the “humanless” property. It sounds cutting-edge in the boardroom, but it’s not what the data says will actually move the needle.
We’ve had to go up against the assumption that the future is about removing humans from the process entirely. We overcame it with data. When you can show that laughter drives a 48% conversion lift and genuine curiosity drives 35%, the argument for keeping humans in the loop and supercharging them becomes a business case, not a philosophical one.
Guidance
When invited to explain Grotto AI’s Guidance product, Deveau described:
Guidance is our flagship product. Think of it like GPS for a leasing call, providing turn-by-turn directions in real time. It listens to live prospect calls and nudges agents to deploy the specific tactics that top performers use to drive conversion.
These aren’t vague suggestions like “be friendlier.” They’re concrete, actionable nudges: ask an open-ended question, personalize the property description based on what the prospect just told you, or invite them to tour.
The agent still brings their own personality and style, but we make sure the high-impact moments happen consistently. For tours, it’s the same philosophy. We prepare agents to deliver a personalized experience and provide immediate feedback right afterward: one thing they crushed and one thing to focus on next time.
It sits on top of existing customer relationship management platforms and phone systems and typically takes days, not months, to implement.
$10 Million Seed Round
When asked about Grotto AI’s funding, Deveau said:
We raised a $10 million seed round led by ICONIQ, with participation from Asymmetric Capital Partners. ICONIQ is a seasoned AI investor. They led Anthropic’s $13 billion round, and Grotto is among the earliest-stage investments in their history.
Our advisors and angel investors include industry veterans like David Dear of Equity Residential and BILT, Caren Maio, co-founder of Funnel Leasing, and Avi Dorfman, co-founder of Compass.
Multifamily Market Opportunity
When discussing the total addressable market Grotto AI is pursuing, Deveau specified:
We target institutional multifamily apartment owners. Multifamily housing is an enormous asset class, and vacancy loss, which is the rent revenue lost from apartments sitting empty, erases about $500 billion of property value for these owners. That’s our north star metric.
U.S. apartment owners lose an estimated $30 billion a year in lost rent revenue alone. If we can help operators reduce vacancy by even a few days per unit, the balance-sheet impact is massive.
Human-Led Conversion
When asked what differentiates Grotto AI from its competition, Deveau emphasized:
Everyone else in AI and leasing is focused on automating away grunt work through chatbots, voice agents, and self-guided tours. Those are valuable, and we see ourselves as stacking value on top of them. But nobody has built technology for the moments that actually drive conversion.
Our data shows that the most predictive factors in whether a prospect converts are things only humans can do today, including building rapport, leading with curiosity, and even laughing. AI is great at information retrieval and question answering. It is not as good as humans at persuasion and selling, and we have the data to prove it.
There are analogous products for field sales coaching in other industries, but nobody has made strong inroads into multifamily leasing specifically. We’ve built deep domain expertise there, and the product fits like a glove for our customers.
Future Goals
When discussing Grotto AI’s future goals, Deveau concluded:
Our immediate focus is scaling partnerships with top multifamily owners, operators, and developers nationwide. We’re building a highly referenceable customer base. We’ve been told we’re “the best vendor I’ve ever worked with,” and our plan is to earn that reputation over and over again.
The thesis applies well beyond multifamily, but right now, focus drives quality. We’re going deep in this market and are committed to being purpose-built for it.
As we like to say: 2025 was the year of replacing humans. 2026 is about unlocking what only they can do.
