FinTech News
Groundfloor Surpasses $1 Billion in Retail Investment as it Turns 10
A crowdfunded real estate firm is celebrating a decade of operation. Groundfloor has announced that, since its debut 10 years ago, the platform has now surpassed $1 billion in total retail investment volume. Additionally, the company says that its delivered annualized returns of 10% across its investment offerings during that time,
Founded in 2013 by Brian Dally and Nick Bhargava, Groundfloor is a real estate investment platform that makes it easy for consumers of all stripes to put their money to work. In fact, unlike some similar services that are only open to accredited investors, Groundfloor’s investments start at just $10. According to its site, the platform currently has more than 200,000 users and has more than $240 million in assets under management.
To date, Groundfloor has raised a total of $41 million. This includes $5.8 million in venture capital it garnered from Medipower one year ago. At the time, Medipower also announced plans to invest up to $100 million on the platform during the first year, as well as $220 million in the second year. Elsewhere, Groundfloor also raised $7.2 million via equity crowdfunding on SeedInvest last February and, according to Crunchbase, raised an additional $705,000 in equity crowdfunding last fall. In total, Groundfloor notes that the company is now 30.2% customer owned.
Speaking to the origins of the company and its vision, Dally said, “We started Groundfloor because we saw that capital markets were due for a big disruption. We focused on real estate debt since being in first lien position is lucrative, but more secure and less volatile than owning equity in the same property.” He continued, “The mass market retail investor has never had such access to this part of the residential real estate capital stack.”
Additionally, Bhargava noted, “We created a product qualified by the SEC and with a low barrier to entry. Regardless of real estate investing experience, Groundfloor offers a customer-facing platform empowering investors to develop their own strategies, or using our automation tools.”
At 10 years old, Groundfloor is now a well-seasoned FinTech. That’s what makes the fact that it’s only raised $41 million to date so surprising. Then again, that could actually be a good thing as it shows that the company can cover its operating expenses without a ton of capital. Meanwhile, the platform passing $1 billion in investment is a major milestone — on par with the anniversary itself. With Groundfloor’s userbase only continuing to grow, hopefully the company’s next 10 years will be even better than the first.
