Castia

Overview

Castia began in 2021 as Acasa, a Colombian "buy before you sell" proptech. It financed a new-home down payment against equity in an owner's current property, then managed the sale. After raising $4.7 million in equity and $33 million in debt, the company expanded into Mexico and rebranded. By 2023, Castia had switched to a rent-payment app that offered loyalty points, credit reporting, and rent loans.

The two products shared a housing thesis but not an operating model. One required property underwriting and warehouse capital; the other needed payment volume, cheap rewards, landlord acceptance, and credit economics. Castia processed more than COP 4 billion in rent during 2023, then entered liquidation in November 2024.^[1][2] No founder has published a post-mortem, so the precise trigger remains undisclosed.

Founding Story

Brothers Mauricio and Nicolas Peñaranda grew up in Bogotá, where slow property sales and high mortgage down payments made moving unusually hard. They founded Acasa with Eduardo Restrepo in 2021. Mauricio brought consulting, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and operating experience at Clever Leaves. Nicolas had worked in banking and insurance consulting, run an agricultural startup, and helped build a consumer-snack company. Restrepo had more than a decade in corporate finance.^[3]

The founders targeted homeowners whose wealth was trapped in the home they occupied. Mauricio told La República that selling a house in Latin America could take "between one year and a year and a half."^[4] Acasa financed the down payment on the next property, helped originate the mortgage, and took responsibility for selling the old home. If it did not sell within six months, Acasa guaranteed a purchase under its stated model.^[2]

The company entered Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch. At Demo Day, Mauricio wrote that Acasa had grown fivefold since December.^[5] The momentum helped the team close $4.7 million in seed equity and a $33 million debt facility. Quona Capital led the equity round; Architect Capital supplied the debt; MetaProp, Wollef, YC, and other investors participated.^[6]

In June 2022, Acasa became Castia. Eduardo Restrepo said the new identity would support expansion and position the company as a partner through the home-buying and selling process.^[7] Within a year, the product had changed much more than the name.

Timeline

• 2021: Mauricio Peñaranda, Nicolas Peñaranda, and Eduardo Restrepo founded Acasa in Bogotá.^[3]
• March 2022: Acasa completed YC W22 and announced $4.7 million of equity plus $33 million of debt.^[6]
• June 2022: The company rebranded to Castia and pursued Mexico alongside Colombia.^[7]
• 2023: Castia launched rent payments, rewards, credit-building, and rent loans in Colombia.^[8]
• 2023: The company reported processing more than COP 4 billion in rent payments.^[1]
• November 2024: Castia entered liquidation, according to Dealroom; Quona excluded it from active portfolio companies at year-end.^[2][9]

What They Built

Acasa's first product compressed a chained housing transaction. A homeowner selected a new property before selling the old one. Acasa assessed the existing home's equity, financed the new down payment, helped arrange a mortgage, and marketed the former home. The promise addressed a genuine sequencing problem: owners could not fund the next purchase until the first sale closed, yet waiting for a sale made it difficult to secure the desired property.

That product carried real-estate and credit exposure. Its $33 million debt facility was not ordinary startup runway; it funded transactions. The service expanded from Colombia to Mexico in early 2022, and Castia reported sevenfold monthly transaction growth during its first six months in Mexico.^[7]

The later Castia app addressed renters instead. Users routed monthly rent through Castia using different payment methods. They could earn Puntos Colombia, accumulate 1% of rent in an internal currency called Bricks, build a payment record, and redeem value with partners or toward a future down payment. The app also offered rent-specific credit.^[1]