WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fundrise (www.fundrise.com), the leading real estate crowdfunding site, and its parent company, Rise Companies Corp., announced today that they have raised more than $31 million in financing from a consortium of real estate, technology, and financial institutions. The financing round was led by Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN), Marty Burger and Tal Kerret, the CEO and CIO of Silverstein Properties, and the Collaborative Fund, among others.
Founded in 2010 by brothers Ben and Daniel Miller, Fundrise has brought real estate crowdfunding to the mainstream, raising more capital in its Series A than any other equity crowdfunding company has raised in a first round worldwide. With this raise from established players, Fundrise intends to expand its offerings to institutional investors interested in direct exposure to world-class real estate. Fundrise can now increase its presence in major U.S. cities so that every citizen can build a real estate portfolio and access diverse, high-yield real estate opportunities through a streamlined online platform. Fundrise was the first and is the leading real estate crowdfunding site, allowing both high net worth and small-scale investors to invest in properties for as little as $100 per share and as much as $10,000,000.
“This raise represents Wall Street’s and Commercial Real Estate’s embrace of crowdfunding as the future of real estate finance and investment,” said Fundrise Co-Founder Ben Miller, 37. “Through Fundrise, we have brought previously inaccessible real estate offerings to a wider market, creating new opportunities for retail investors, institutional investors, and developers,” added Fundrise Co-Founder Daniel Miller, 27. “More people are interested in investing locally and in real estate, and Fundrise brings technology and crowdfunding to bear on finance to allow them to do just that.”
Along with Renren and the CEO and CIO of World Trade Center owner-developer Silverstein Properties, Fundrise strategic investors include Rich Boyle, former Chairman/CEO of Loopnet; Scott Plank, formerly of Under Armour; California real estate developer Chris Rising; Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group; Berman Enterprises; and the Collaborative Fund, among others.
Joseph Chen, Chairman and CEO of Renren Inc., commented, “We have seen crowdfunding sweep through large verticals of consumer finance, including student loans and credit card debt. We believe that the real estate market is the newest frontier for crowd-based financing. We are extremely impressed with Fundrise's early lead in the space, their ability to tackle hard business problems and their commitment to expanding access to real estate investment to every investor.”
“Fundrise represents the best of real estate innovation, expanding access to real estate investment while improving capital flows for quality development companies around the country,” said Tal Kerret, Chief Investment Officer of Silverstein Properties. “I took a position as an independent board member as I believe in the vision, the company and the founders.”
Fundrise is raising nearly $1M a week on its platform, having raised over $15 million dollars to date from more than 1,000 investors online. Fundrise members have invested in 30 real estate deals in cities across the country, with Fundrise on track to bring to the platform new offerings in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington, DC in 2014.
For more information about Fundrise, visit www.fundrise.com.
About Fundrise
Benjamin and Daniel Miller founded Fundrise in 2010 with the goal of giving everyone the ability to invest in local commercial real estate. Fundrise was the first company to take real estate investment online and offer true equity ownership in local properties. Fundrise offers real estate investments for both accredited and unaccredited investors, and enables real estate developers to build their investment network and raise investment online through a full service web-based platform. Fundrise is backed by a group of leading institutions including Renren, executives from Silverstein Properties, and the Collaborative Fund.
About Renren
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) operates the leading real-name social networking Internet platform in China. Renren, which means “everyone” in Chinese, enables users to connect and communicate with each other, share information and user-generated content, play online games, watch videos and enjoy a wide range of other features and services. Renren’s platform includes the main social networking website www.renren.com, the online games center www.game.renren.com, and the video-sharing website www.56.com. Renren had over 206 million activated users as of December 31, 2013.
About Silverstein Properties
Silverstein Properties, Inc. (SPI) is a privately-held, full-service real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York. Founded in 1957 by Larry Silverstein, the company has developed, owned and managed more than 35 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space, including 7 World Trade Center, the first LEED-certified office tower in New York City, which opened in 2006 and 4 World Trade Center which opened in November 2013. Currently, the firm has $10 billion of development underway including the Four Seasons Resort at Walt Disney World, the Four Seasons Downtown New York Hotel and Private Luxury Residences and 2 and 3 World Trade Center in New York. In addition, SPI is focused on joint ventures for development and acquisitions in Europe, Asia and Israel. The company has been recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in New York City” by Crain’s New York Business for the past six years. For further information on Silverstein Properties, please visit www.silversteinproperties.com or www.wtc.com.
