real estate – Crowdfund Insider

UAE’s Largest Real Estate Firm Emaar Launches New Token Developed on JPMorgan’s DLT Platform Quorum

United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based real estate firm Emaar Properties has launched a new blockchain token-based referral and loyalty platform.

Emaar, the developer of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and the Dubai Mall, intends to use the EMR token to reward its customers, according to local news outlet Arabian Business.

Developed and issued on JPMorgan’s enterprise-grade, distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled platform Quorum, EMR tokens will be redeemable within Emaar’s real estate ecosystem, which includes luxury hotels, e-commerce platforms, and the company’s malls. The tokens may also be traded or exchanged with other users, the report noted.

Emaar’s blockchain-based platform and its native EMR token are scheduled to launch in the coming months.

Emaar’s management said that its EMR token platform is the first initiative of its kind being launched globally. The company noted that its token would offer real monetary value through external exchanges.

An EMR mobile app for Android and iOS will be used to access the platform, which will allow users to earn and redeem the tokens.

Mohamed Alabbar, chairman at Emaar, stated that the EMR token would serve as the company’s utility token. He remarked:

“We didn’t become Emaar by standing still, or by thinking small. By launching the EMR utility token ecosystem, Emaar is expanding the concept of connection. We aren’t just looking into the future — we are building it.”

In March 2019, Emaar’s management revealed that it was creating the token through a partnership with Lykke, a Switzerland-based blockchain firm. The company noted at that time that it might conduct an initial coin offering (ICO) in Europe within the next year.

Emaar has previously denied reports that it would accept cryptocurrency payments for its properties. The firm said it was only taking payments in fiat currencies including UAE’s dirhams (AED) or US dollars.

Reports had claimed that Emaar was allowing its clients to buy property with major digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

ArborCrowd Announces New Offering For Miami’s Biscayne 112 Property

Commercial real estate crowdfunding platform ArborCrowd announced last week a new offering today that allows investors to acquire equity interests in Biscayne 112, a Class-A, ground-up development located at 11200 Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami. According to ArborCrowd, the offering presents an opportunity for investors to get in on the ground floor of Miami’s blossoming suburbs, which continue to evolve as high prices in Downtown Miami are pushing renters farther from the city center.

“An affiliate of Arbor Management Acquisition Company LLC (AMAC) is the project’s sponsor, and — along with ArborCrowd — is a member of The Arbor Family of Companies. Affiliates of the sponsor have funded more than 85 percent of the total equity of the deal. ArborCrowd now seeks to raise $5.15 million from investors for the remaining equity, which has been prefunded into the project by an affiliate of ArborCrowd.”

While sharing more details about the offering, ArborCrowd Co-Founder and COO, Adam Kaufman, stated:

“North Miami is an attractive place to live as it is a short commute to Downtown Miami, is in a school district with multiple top schools, and is seeing a surge of investment into the community. However, it is notably lacking in vacant multi-acre development parcels, which makes a project like ours both scarce and highly desirable. Biscayne 112 is one of the only large-scale, multifamily developments under construction in the area, which provides a competitive advantage as the sponsor seeks to capitalize on strong renter demand for luxury product while offering an expected 20 to 30 percent discount to rents in Downtown Miami.”

Biscayne 112 is notably ArborCrowd’s ninth offering since its inception. In total, ArborCrowd has raised nearly $25 million of equity for assets with a total capitalization of roughly $270 million and to date, ArborCrowd has returned almost $6 million to investors.

AvidXchange & MRI Software Announces Expansion of Strategic E-Payments Partnership

AvidXchange, a U.S. fintech that provides accounts payable and automated payment solutions to midsize businesses, announced on Monday it has expanded its strategic e-payments partnership with MRI Software, a real estate software solutions provider. AvidXchange reported that as part of the enhanced partnership, it and MRI will now offer MRI Vendor Pay powered by AvidXchange (MVP) to MRI Affordable Housing customers to enable an integrated, fully embedded payments experience.

“Launched earlier this year, MRI’s Affordable Housing solution is built specifically for affordable housing portfolio owners who face unique challenges around multi-family compliance and inventory shortages. MRI Affordable Housing users will have the option to select MRI Vendor Pay Powered by AvidXchange and AvidInvoice to complete AP and payment processes, providing a faster, more secure way to approve invoices and make payments electronically directly within their MRI solution.”

While sharing more details about the partnership’s expansion, Michael Praeger, CEO and Co-Founder of AvidXchange, stated:

“AvidXchange will help affordable housing owners spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on the properties they manage. With AvidXchange and MRI’s integrated technology, they’ll have automated AP and payment processes that are scalable, better positioning MRI customers to expand portfolios and make affordable housing available to more people.”

John Ensign, President and Chief Legal Officer of MRI Software, also commented:

“MRI technology is used to manage operations and equity for more than 50 percent of the U.S. affordable housing sector because we offer the right tools for multi-layered subsidies and mixed portfolios. AvidXchange is a trusted partner and bringing them into our ongoing efforts for this industry increases the benefits we’re able to provide clients, giving users more application options that work in tandem with their core MRI product.”

AvidXchange and MRI added they will also deepen the existing integration between MRI Property Management and AvidXchange’s AP and payment solutions to deliver more value to real estate customers.

Update: Assetz Exchange Closes Seedrs Funding Round With More Than £750,000 Raised

Assetz Exchange, a UK-based property crowdfunding platform, has closed its equity crowdfunding on Seedrs with a total of £750,367 raised. The funding round launched earlier this summer and quickly raised its initial £350,000 funding target. Assetz Exchanged offered 4.83% in equity at a £6,902,276 pre-money valuation.

As previously reported, Assetz Exchange describes itself to be a revolutionary new crowdfunding property investment platform. The platform noted it is the buy-to-let you know, without the barriers.

“Assetz Exchange has been established to offer retail investors a way to more efficiently invest and trade in residential buy-to-let property and housebuilding projects for both income and capital growth. The business has an experienced team with a 17-year pedigree in the buy-to-let property industry through its association to Assetz Property and its 140,000 registered property investors.”

The property platform further explained that it offers fractional property investment opportunities through a crowdfunding model with optional ISA tax advantages. Assetz Exchange also noted that it enables investors to create a customized and diversified property portfolio in minutes made up of different types of properties across the UK, including Buy-to-Let and developments.

Funds from the Seedrs round will go towards the following:

Further optimizing and development of the website
Further development of the property and client money back-office accounting systems
Hiring further team members
Further legal and professional costs
Working capital
Launch marketing and PR

LendInvest Joins Brilliant Solutions’ Lender Panel For Buy-to-Let Mortgage Product Distribution

LendInvest, a UK-based online marketplace for mortgages, announced on Thursday it has joined mortgage club Brilliant Solutions’ lender panel in order to bring its Buy-to-Let (BTL) mortgage product distribution to a wider network of brokers.

LendInvest claims that Brilliant Solutions is an “industry expert” in specialist mortgage products. Through this expansion of the duo’s partnership, Brilliant Solutions’ members will now enjoy a superior submission service, as well as access to LendInvest’s full BTL product range, and BTL online platform.

“LendInvest recently made a series of changes to its BTL products, including introducing additional products at 65% and 70% LTV and Cash Back contribution towards legal fees on its 75% LTV 5 year fixed rate products.”

Speaking about the partnership and joining the lender panel, Ian Boden, Sales Director at LendInvest, stated:

“With an industry-wide reputation for their knowledge of specialist loan products, Brilliant Solutions’ expertise will be a welcome addition to our mortgage distribution network. As we continue to actively expand our broker networks in the BTL space, partners like Brilliant Solutions will ensure our offering is being delivered to the customers that need them.”

Matthew Arena, Managing Director at Brilliant Solutions, went on to add:

“We are pleased to add LendInvest to our direct to lender mortgage club proposition and look forward to working with them to build their presence in the intermediary market. LendInvest are expanding their products all of the time and is a lender that brokers should really get to know closely.”

Update: Assetz Exchange Nears £450,000 in Funding During the Final Days on Seedrs

Assetz Exchange, a UK-based property crowdfunding platform, is nearing £450,000 in funding through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. The campaign was launched earlier this summer, originally seeking £350,000. The crowdfunding portal is offering 4.83% in equity at a £6,902,276 pre-money valuation.

As previously reported, Assetz Exchange claims to be a revolutionary new crowdfunding property investment platform. This is the buy-to-let you know, without the barriers.

“Assetz Exchange has been established to offer retail investors a way to more efficiently invest and trade in residential buy-to-let property and housebuilding projects for both income and capital growth. The business has an experienced team with a 17-year pedigree in the buy-to-let property industry through its association to Assetz Property and its 140,000 registered property investors.”

Assetz Exchange currently offers fractional property investment opportunities through a crowdfunding model with optional ISA tax advantages. The platform enables investors to create a customized and diversified property portfolio in minutes made up of different types of properties across the UK, including Buy-to-Let and developments.

“The business has FCA permissions as a Peer-to-Peer lender, which the directors believe is a simpler and more tax efficient alternative to the existing equity models used by other property platforms. Assetz Capital, the highly successful Peer-to-Peer business lender, is also a shareholder in AE.”

Funds from the Seedrs campaign will be used for the following:

Further optimizing and development of the website
Further development of the property and client money back-office accounting systems
Hiring further team members
Further legal and professional costs
Working capital
Launch marketing and PR

The campaign is set to close at the end of September.

PeerStreet Named CRETech 2019 Real Estate Tech Award Winner

Real estate investment platform PeerStreet announced on Tuesday it won first place in CRETech’s 2019 Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAs for the Information & Intelligence – Crowdfunding category.

According to PeerStreet, CRETech’s RETAS recognizes the year’s most innovative and cutting-edge companies that have played an integral role in advancing tech in the real estate industry. Winners are selected by a panel of judges, including the venture capitalists, angel investors, corporate investors, and thought leaders in the real estate tech industry. Speaking about the award, Brett Crosby, COO and Co-Founder of PeerStreet, stated:

“PeerStreet’s vision is to align the interests of everyone in this ecosystem—from lenders and investors to borrowers and the communities they represent—by providing both easier access to real estate debt and empowering participants to make better decisions. Winning a RETAS is great validation to our entire team that the work we’re doing is transforming this industry for the better.”

PeerStreet went on to report that the award comes after it recently expanded its product offerings into long-term real estate debt through a new Residential For Rent program and incorporated more loan types into its Automated Investing feature, which now boasts a low $100 minimum for small-balance reinvestments. The company added that it has more than $2 billion transacted on the platform and more than $1 billion in assets under management to date.

CrowdStreet Debuts Diversified Opportunity Zone Fund

Real estate crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet announced on Monday the launch of its new Diversified Opportunity Zone Fund. According to CrowdStreet, the fund will focus on new development and redevelopment in small and mid-market U.S. Opportunity Zone communities with high growth potential.

“A Qualified Opportunity Fund is an investment vehicle created to invest into a qualifying property or properties as defined by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to incentivize investment in targeted communities called Opportunity Zones. By investing in the new CrowdStreet fund, investors can participate in multiple projects that are intended to increase access to high-quality jobs, healthcare, education and housing opportunities in distressed communities.”

While sharing more details about the Fund, Ian Formigle, Vice President of Investments for CrowdStreet, stated:

“Opportunity Zone investments align nicely with our general focus on 18-hour cities. These markets are up-and-coming metro areas with population and job growth rates that, in many cases, are outpacing larger 24-hour cities such as New York and San Francisco. Investors can feel good about boosting the economy of underserved communities while experiencing the most significant tax break in decades. With one of the most active marketplaces in the industry and our strong deal flow this year, we anticipate high-quality investment opportunities.”

CrowdStreet went on to add that the Opportunity Zone investors may be able to defer capital gains through 2026 and receive up to a 15% tax reduction on current gains, with the most powerful benefit comes through the elimination of capital gains taxes on any returns generated by the Opportunity Zone investment, provided it is held for at least 10 years.

Update: Property Investment Platform Yielders Completes Seedrs Round With More Than £660,000 in Funding Secured

Yielders, a property investment platform based in the UK, completed its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs with a total of £661,135 in funding raised. Through the funding round, Yielders offered 4.76% in equity with a £10,004,118 pre-money valuation.

As previously reported, Yielders claims to be the real estate investment platform that is the UK’s first Islamic finance-friendly fintech company, regulated by the FCA. The platform’s mission is to continue to lower the barriers of entry to a classically inaccessible asset class, with real-estate investment opportunities from as little as £100.

“We provide hassle-free property investments, with predefined lease agreements which offer users a steady income. Assets are expertly sourced in regions where there is strong projected capital appreciation, allowing investors to benefit from all aspects of a real-estate investment without any of the headaches of being a landlord.”

Yielders also reported that its platform has an existing range of “robust and reliable” live products, which have been delivering returns for its investors for more than three years.

“When the asset is sold, we charge a 15% profit share, aligning to the core ethical principles of fairly sharing in risk and reward. For high-net-worth and ultra-high net worth investors, we offer 2.5% fees on structuring investment opportunities but an increased profit share of 15-30% dependent on asset sale price. By developing these strategies, we plan offer institutions large-scale equity-based projects at a competitive rate of a 2.5% structuring fee, and 15-30% profit share.”

Funds from the campaign will be used for the following:

Product development
Invest in technology
Addition of talent
Enter Markets and Grow

Overfunding: Property Crowdfunding Platform Assetz Exchange Quickly Surpasses £350,000 Funding Target on Seedrs

Less than a week after launching its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, Assetz Exchange, a UK-based property crowdfunding platform, has successfully secured its initial £350,000 funding target. The funding round has attracted more than 150 investors. As previously reported, Assetz Exchange describes itself as a revolutionary new crowdfunding property investment platform. This is the buy-to-let you know, without the barriers.

“Assetz Exchange has been established to offer retail investors a way to more efficiently invest and trade in residential buy-to-let property and housebuilding projects for both income and capital growth. The business has an experienced team with a 17-year pedigree in the buy-to-let property industry through its association to Assetz Property and its 140,000 registered property investors.”

Assetz Exchange offers fractional property investment opportunities through a crowdfunding model with optional ISA tax advantages. The platform also enables investors to create a customized and diversified property portfolio in minutes made up of different types of properties across the UK, including Buy-to-Let and developments.

“The business has FCA permissions as a Peer-to-Peer lender, which the directors believe is a simpler and more tax efficient alternative to the existing equity models used by other property platforms. Assetz Capital, the highly successful Peer-to-Peer business lender, is also a shareholder in AE.”

Funds from the Seedrs round will be used for the following:

Further optimizing and development of the website
Further development of the property and client money back-office accounting systems
Hiring further team members
Further legal and professional costs
Working capital
Launch marketing and PR

The campaign is set to close later this fall.

Property Crowdfunding Platform Assetz Exchange Now Seeking £350,000 Through Seedrs Funding Round

Assetz Exchange, a UK-based property crowdfunding platform, is now seeking a minimum £350,000 in funding through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Founded in 2018, Assetz Exchange describes itself as a revolutionary new crowdfunding property investment platform. This is the buy-to-let you know, without the barriers.

“Assetz Exchange has been established to offer retail investors a way to more efficiently invest and trade in residential buy-to-let property and housebuilding projects for both income and capital growth. The business has an experienced team with a 17-year pedigree in the buy-to-let property industry through its association to Assetz Property and its 140,000 registered property investors.”

Assetz Exchange reported that it offers fractional property investment opportunities through a crowdfunding model with optional ISA tax advantages. The platform also enables investors to create a customized and diversified property portfolio in minutes made up of different types of properties across the UK, including Buy-to-Let and developments.

“The business has FCA permissions as a Peer-to-Peer lender, which the directors believe is a simpler and more tax efficient alternative to the existing equity models used by other property platforms. Assetz Capital, the highly successful Peer-to-Peer business lender, is also a shareholder in AE.”

Funds from the Seedrs round will be used for the following:

Further optimizing and development of the website
Further development of the property and client money back-office accounting systems
Hiring further team members
Further legal and professional costs
Working capital
Launch marketing and PR

Since its launch, the Assetz Exchange crowdfunding campaign has raised more than £305,000 from nearly 50 investors. It is set to close in late September.

LendInvest Announces Appointments To Business Development Team

LendInvest, a UK-based online marketplace for mortgages, announced on Wednesday it has added new members to its Business Development team.

According to the online lender, Nigel Robbins was named Business Development Manager, Abby Challen has taken the position of Business Development Manager to cover Central and Greater London, and Paige Archer was been promoted to an office-based Business Development Manager to increate internal support to brokers through the Sales Desk.

LendInvest noted that Nigel and Abby join the growing team of field-based Business Development Managers as the business continues to see further demand across the country for its full product range. Speaking about the appointments,

Ian Boden, Sales Director at LendInvest, stated:

“After what has already been a busy year for the business, appetite for LendInvest’s loan products is only growing. Field-based BDMs are a huge support to our lean in-house sales desk. Their deep local networks ensure our technology driven processes and best practice customer service get right in front of borrowers and brokers at their desks throughout the country.”

Boden went on to add:

“We are delighted to announce these key hires who bring a broad range of experience to the team.”

Online Estate Agency Group MyHomeGroup Now Seeking £750,000 on Seedrs

MyHomeGroup, a UK-based online estate agency group, is now seeking 750,000 through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Founded in 2013, MyHomeGroup claims to be the UK’s #1 online agency. Its key mission is to be the most-loved property business in the UK offering customers a one-stop-shop for all their property needs.

“We can do this because we don’t operate expensive high-street branches, but instead focus on providing incredible customer service and passing savings onto customers. In the last year alone we’ve saved our customers over £1.2m in fees compared to high street agents.”

MyHomeGroup also noted that its marketing spend has been low compared to competitors.

“With tight controls in place, the distinctive brand names and by focussing on aiming to deliver the best-in-class customer service, SellMyHome has achieved a CPA of £92 in 2019. The group benefits from a high percentage of repeat customers and a large volume of word-of-mouth referrals, resulting in organic growth to date.”

Funds from the Seedrs round will be used for the following:

Further develop our centralised technology platform and drive innovation to realise additional revenue streams, reducing the cost to serve and increasing cross sell opportunities.
Scale marketing channels to increase growth and continue to drive CPA down as marketing efficiency increases.
Establish further geographic and horizontal market opportunities such as the expat communities and the short-term rental market.
Assemble a world-class C-Level team to help drive the business and execute exit strategy.

Since its launch, MyHomeGroup’s campaign has raised more than £585,000 from nearly 225 investors. it is set to close in September.

Property Investment Platform Yielders Secures £500,000 Funding Target on Seedrs

Yielders, a property investment platform based in the UK, has successfully secured its initial £500,000 funding target on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs. The funding round comes less than a year after Yielders closed on a pre-series A funding round. The platform is offering 4.76% of equity with a £10,004,118 pre-money valuation.

Founded in 2015, Yielders claims to be the real-estate investment platform that is the UK’s first Islamic finance-friendly fintech company, regulated by the FCA. The platform’s mission is to continue to lower the barriers of entry to a classically inaccessible asset class, with real-estate investment opportunities from as little as £100.

“We provide hassle-free property investments, with predefined lease agreements which offer users a steady income. Assets are expertly sourced in regions where there is strong projected capital appreciation, allowing investors to benefit from all aspects of a real-estate investment without any of the headaches of being a landlord.”

Yielders also reported that its platform has an existing range of “robust and reliable” live products, which have been delivering returns for its investors for more than three years.

“At Yielders, instead of charging interest on loans to deliver returns, we charge a flat platform and management fee. When the asset is sold, we charge a 15% profit share, aligning to the core ethical principles of fairly sharing in risk and reward. For high-net worth and ultra-high net worth investors, we offer 2.5% fees on structuring investment opportunities but an increased profit share of 15-30% dependent on asset sale price. By developing these strategies, we plan offer institutions large-scale equity-based projects at a competitive rate of a 2.5% structuring fee, and 15-30% profit share.”

Funds from the Seedrs round will be used for the following:

Product development
Invest in technology
Addition of talent
Enter Markets and Grow

VersaPay Names Large Retail REIT As Newest ARC Client

VersaPay (TSXV: VPY), a provider of cloud-based invoice-to-cash solutions including electronic invoice presentment and payment, announced on this week it has signed another major U.S. REIT to add to its growing client list in commercial real estate. VersaPay revealed:

“With properties across the US, the client sought a solution that would drive strong tenant adoption and convert its high volume of check payments to digital. Versapay ARC creates an online payment experience for tenants that is convenient, secure, and if the tenant chooses, fully automated. VersaPay’s deep experience with MRI integrations further solidified the client’s choice to move online with ARC.”

Craig O’Neill, CEO of VersaPay, went on to state:

“Our focus on automating the receivables process while enhancing the tenant experience has been very successful for our clients. The commercial real estate sector continues to be a leading vertical for VersaPay, and we’re delighted to be working alongside yet another large US REIT to enhance the level of service offered to their tenants.”

Founded in 2006, VersaPay claims to be a leading cloud-based invoice presentment and payment provider for businesses of all sizes. Its ARC software-as-a-service offering allows businesses to easily deliver customized electronic invoices to their customers, to accept credit card and EFT / ACH payments and automatically reconcile payments to their ERP and accounting software.

CrowdStreet Appoints Donna Wells to Advisory Board

Real estate crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet announced on Wednesday it has appointed Donna Wells to its advisory board. The appointment comes just days after sponsor J.Jeffers & Co. raised $10 million on CrowdStreet in just 80 minutes. In total, $14 million was raised in a day ($16.7 million in total offers were submitted).

According to CrowdStreet, Wells was previously founding CMO for two category-defining FinTech innovators: Mint.com and MyCFO Wealth Management. Most recently, she was President and CEO of Mindflash Technologies. She brings her experience with four Fortune 500 companies: American Express, Charles Schwab, Intuit and Expedia, where she reportedly led US marketing for the then third largest e-commerce marketplace on the internet. Speaking about her new role at CrowdStreet, Wells stated:

“The financial services industry is rapidly democratizing. We’re seeing it in the equity and lending markets and it’s time for Commercial Real Estate, as the third largest asset class, to also become more efficient, transparent and accessible. I believe that CrowdStreet is going to be the driver of that change –- making it possible for accredited investors to better diversify their portfolios with highly curated CRE investments or funds. I’m looking forward to helping the company realize its full potential as the leading online real estate investing marketplace.”

CrowdStreet CEO, Tore Steen, went on to add:

“It’s critical to our company’s ambitious mission and vision that we have access to the top strategic minds in our industry. Donna’s experience is unmatched and we know her involvement will help propel CrowdStreet to market leadership in CRE and within the FinTech space, more broadly. Her track record in successful product design and marketing to high net worth women and Millennials will be particularly relevant as we continue our drive to make institutional-quality CRE offerings available to a wider group of US investors.”

Proplend Makes Property Funding Solutions Available to Individual Commercial Property Owners

Online platform Proplend announced on Wednesday it is making its property funding solutions available to individual owners of commercial property, as well as continuing to provide commercial investment finance solutions to corporate vehicles.

According to Proplend, the Proplend loans are available to invest in manually or through Auto-Lend and through ISA, ‘Classic.’ Pension accounts and Business Development Manager, Stewart Bruce reported that the news will be welcomed by the platforms growing band of ‘Proplenders’ as demand can outstrip supply for smaller, higher rate loans in particular. He also revealed:

“Earlier this week we had the 0-50% LTV portion of a loan entirely filled by our safest Tranche A only auto-invest facility before manual lenders had a chance to invest – the first time we have seen this happen. Thankfully we’ve already been working on a way to bring more loans to the platform to satisfy demand and offer more opportunities for diversification. We’ve received numerous enquiries in the past from individuals looking for funding for their commercial (investment) property and we expect to get many more going forward. To date we’ve only been able to help when the property is held in an SPV, so it’s an exciting development for Lenders and creditworthy personal borrowers alike that we can start bringing these loans to the platform. It should make a big difference.”

Proplend added it is also accepting personal funding requests for its commercial bridging loan product and its other new £5-15 million proposition. With a maximum 70% LTV (compared to its usual 75% limit for sub-£5 million loans), its large loan facility is available on an additional amortization basis, as well as Interest Only.

Overfunding: Real Estate Source Platform Infabode Returns to Seedrs & Quickly Surpasses £100,000 Funding Target

Less than a year after securing £763,043 through its previous Seedrs round, real estate source platform, Infabode, has returned to the equity crowdfunding platform and has already surpassed its initial £100,000 funding target.

As previously reported, Infabode reported that it connects its community of users with industry information from the real estate sector on one customizable online platform. Infabode’s platform has more than 450 content providers and over 17,000 members.

“Infabode aims to reduce the amount of time people spend trying to access key information from the Real Estate industry and allows its community of members to customise the content that they have access to. Companies provide their industry information and data to Infabode in exchange for the increased marketing reach. The platform boasts over 400 industry partners and thousands of pages of industry data.”

During the company’s funding round last year, CEO of Infabode, Matthew Partridge, reportedly stated:

“We quickly identified that this problem was especially an issue in the Real Estate industry. Thousands of companies were releasing valuable industry information & data for marketing purposes but only to their existing clients. The problem with this was two-fold… it was hard for companies to reach new potential clients & those that were trying to find this information was lost in Google or only getting information from a single source.”

In regards to what the funds from the latest Seedrs round will be used for, the company added:

“The purpose of this bridge round is to enable us to increase the financial resources behind our phase two expansion (user growth). This includes the hiring of marketing professionals and a marketing budget. This bridge financing also allows us more time to hit key APIs ahead of looking to raise a Series A round in the summer.”

Groundfloor Announces First Quarter 2019 Results: Doubles Year Over Year Revenue

Real estate crowdfunding platform Groundfloor announced on Tuesday its 2019 first quarter results and momentum. According to Groundfloor, Despite the government shutdown of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 35 days, it still experienced 123% percent non-GAAP first quarter revenue growth compared to the prior year first quarter.

Additional First Quarter momentum for Groundfloor is the following:

Achieving a 166% increase in unit volume for loans closed in first quarter ’19 vs. first quarter ’18
More than doubling loan application volume for first quarter ’19 vs. first quarter ’18 (121% increase)
Selling more than $14.5M in real estate investments to retail investors on the platform
Surpassing more than 60,000 registered users
Eclipsing $100MM in loans to real estate developers to-date in more than two dozen states
Expanding product offerings, such as new construction loans and a fixed annualized notes product returning 5 percent on a 90-day term
Launching a second online public offering to purchase stock in Groundfloor directly

Lastly, GROUNDFLOOR was recognized for several awards based on its innovation and company growth including:

Received a “Top Deal” stock buy designation from Equity crowdfunding rating service, KINGSCROWD, a distinction reserved for deals selected into the top 10% of companies in their due diligence funnel
Recognized as a TAG Top 40 Georgia-based technology company for innovation and financial impact
Honored as the best crowdfunding platform with the Fintech Breakthrough Award
Won the Technology Association of Georgia’s Fintech ADVANCE Award for having demonstrable results that helped the financial industry move forward through innovation
Named an Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Award Finalist as one of the top 100 Georgia companies demonstrating rapid financial growth based on annual revenues
Both CEO Brian Dally and the company were listed as one of Atlanta Inno’s 50 on Fire recipients for contributing to the Atlanta innovation ecosystem

Groundfloor added that to date, it has remained the only company qualified by the SEC to offer direct real estate based debt investments to non-accredited investors.

Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform PeerStreet Expands Product Line By Launching Residential for Rent Loans

Real estate investment platform PeerStreet announced on Wednesday the launch of a new loan product for private lenders: Residential for Rent loans. According to PeerStreet, Residential for Rent loans have a 30-year term so borrowers can secure long-term financing for residential rental properties.

PeerStreet reported that because of the longer-term nature of Residential for Rent loans, it is currently offering investment in this product to its pool of institutional investors—a group with a proven appetite for this asset class.

“For PeerStreet’s network of private lenders, this presents an opportunity to do more business with their borrowers, in addition to attracting new customers who need long term financing rather than short term bridge loans.”

While sharing more details about the product, Brew Johnson, co-founder and CEO of PeerStreet, stated:

“We’re very excited to be expanding our marketplace by offering Residential for Rent loans. This is a natural progression for us as a company as we increase our volume of transactions with institutional investors. Our move into this asset class is important to continue to support the growth of our private lending partners and help them better serve their borrowers.”

PeerStreet went on to report that with this product launch, it is taking a big step in developing an even more robust real estate marketplace, expanding its reach beyond short-term bridge loans. The company is not only introducing this product to an active audience, but they are continuing to position its platform for even more growth in 2019. Brett Crosby, Co-founder and COO of PeerStreet, then shared:

“Supporting this new product is incredibly valuable for the PeerStreet marketplace as a whole. More lenders means more loans, which makes it easier for investors to diversify their portfolios. That benefit brings more investor demand, and in turn, enables lenders to attract more quality borrowers. It is a virtuous cycle that builds upon the platform and enriches the marketplace.”

PeerStreet added it developed its platform to enable expansion across many loan types, beginning with Residential Bridge loans, expanding to Multifamily Bridge loans, Small Balance Commercial Bridge loans and now, Residential for Rent loans.