Real estate crowdfunding: new capital inflow
TECHCRUNCH: In a move that feels fairly unusual, Global Founders Capital (GFC), the venture capital arm of German startup factory and e-commerce behemoth Rocket Internet, has invested in a startup before it’s even launched. The company in question is BrickVest, a London and Berlin-based real estate investment platform founded by Emmanuel Lumineau, Thomas Schneider, and Adalbert Wysocki, who have a background in investment banking, real estate and fintech. It’s launch is pegged for Q3 2015, but interested parties can sign up for pre-registration now with the promise to be able to get in on the action early once the first real estate is listed on the site.
Noteworthy, although perhaps unsurprising given the market sensitivity of a startup still somewhat in stealth, neither BrickVest nor GFC are disclosing the size of the investment. It is my understanding, however, that the startup had raised over $1 million prior to Rocket Internet’s involvement from various unnamed tech angel investors, European family offices with large real estate holdings, and real estate private equity investors. One of those is Richard Peiser, Professor of Real Estate Development at Harvard University.
“We are currently in the process of raising a multi-millions round of capital from existing and new strategic investors to further accelerate the development of our platform,” co-founder and CEO Emmanuel Lumineau tells TechCrunch.
The problem that BrickVest and similar startups in the property/fintech space are tackling is how to open up real estate investing to more people while at the same time bringing greater transparency to the real estate market and liquidity for property developers.
“The real estate investment market is full of unnecessary market inefficiencies, dominated by a closed network of deal-makers at the expense of both the ultimate investors and the real estate entrepreneurs/owners seeking capital,” explains Lumineau. Read the full article
DEALSTREETASIA: Singapore-based crowdfunding platform CoAssets has listed on the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX), Australia’s second largest stock exchange, and will trade on the NSX under the symbol “CAX”.
The NSX is a secondary board in Australia and the second largest listing market in the country after the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). 130 firms are listed on the NSX; approximately 80 per cent of new listings are foreign companies. The NSX listing of CoAssets will support growth and increase investment potential.
Launched in July 2013 as Southeast Asia’s first property crowdfunding platform by Seh Huan Kiat and Getty Goh, CoAssets crowdfunds residential and commercial properties in Asia, Australia, the UK and the US. It claims to have membership in excess of 11,000 individuals to date across Southeast Asia.
CoAssets primary function is to serve as a multi-sided platform linking developers, agents and property owners seeking alternative funding sources with investors keen on co-developing projects and co-purchasing property units. Read the full article
