Realty Mogul, an online platform that is doing crowdfunding for real estate has won the coveted top award at the "Founder Showcase," a Silicon Valley pitch competition and networking event where eight early-stage startups showed off their wares in front of 400 investors and founders.
The startup is a graduate of both the Founder Institute and Microsoft/TechStars' accelerator in Seattle, and recently announced its $500,000 seed round raised from a handful of angel investors, including Gust CEO David S. Rose, Gordon Stephenson and serial entrepreneur Sky Kruse, according to TechCrunch. The startup has also won the HATCH Pitch Competition at SXSW in early March, where it was selected as the top startup from over 100 applicants.
Realty Mogul provides a unique platform for people who want to invest in real estate but are unsure of how to get started and do not have time to manage investment properties full-time. Users have access to buy shares of investments for as little as $5,000, according to a company press release.
The company is currently working with over 1,000 investors, who are using the platform to access a dashboard where they can manage their investments, browse a marketplace of potential investments, sign paperwork and submit payment for deals they want to be involved in and are charged only if the total funding goal is reached. Once reached, investors can track their investments using the site's dashboard.
For accredited investors, Realty Mogul offers two types of investment opportunities: Loan Purchase for Residential Rehab and Equity Purchase for Commercial Buy and Hold.
- Loan Purchase for Residential Rehab - Investors pool their money to buy a loan, which is tied to a residential property that is being rehabilitated and the property is intended to be sold directly after rehabilitation. Investors earn interest on their money with a balloon payment at the end. The average hold for a loan like this is six to nine months.
- Equity Purchase for Commercial Buy and Hold - Investors pool their money to purchase a specific commercial property. That property is acquired and managed by a professional investment company with a track record of success. Investors are entitled to a share of the cash-flow from rents as well as share of the proceeds when the property is sold. The average hold for an investment like this is three to five years.
