Real Estate investment startup Cadre has recently raised an astounding $50 million in a Series B finding round.
Cadre is an online venture portal that was co-founded CEO Ryan Williams, who has had spells at Blackstone and Goldman Sachs. Thrive Capital's Joshua Kushner and his sibling, real-estate developer Jared Kushner, are all out supporting Williams by providing strategic advice.
A year ago, Cadre gathered $18.3 million in a Series A round, driven by Thrive and General Catalyst. Their investors included Yuri Milner, Goldman Sachs, Founders Fund, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, the Ford Foundation and Khosla Ventures, among others.
Cadre has been discreetly endorsing itself to a handpicked group of investors that are mostly institutions, foundations and high net worth people.
While Cadre has been very discreet about how it operates, the startup brands itself as a relational arranger that guarantees customers are matched with the real estate bargains through "property software" and its own high caliber staff.
Williams says that due diligence on both sponsor and property are the key to maintaining Cadre's exclusive and quality service. He says that they make it to a point that they ensure "pristine sponsorship" and a great product.
We needed a platform to connect investors with institutional quality real estate outside the prevailing fund model," Williams said. "I could more efficiently connect investors to quality investments."
Williams said investors have poured millions of dollars into transactions around the nation being offered by top sponsors through Cadre.
Cadre is practically threatening the traditional business model because of its lower costs, says an anonymous investor.
Williams, a Louisiana local, has created an in-house group with workplaces in Soho that "can be creative and strategic and handle complicated investment structures." This confident quality of his has earned him a "rock star" status among his backers.