LEX Lands $6M For Real Estate Securities From Investors Including Ric Clark And DeAndre Hopkins – Crunchbase News
Marketplace for real estate papers LEX The company announced on Wednesday that it had raised an additional $ 6 million in seed capital.
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According to the company, both accredited and non-accredited investors can acquire minority stakes in commercial real estate through IPOs with just one asset on the LEX marketplace. Investors can buy and sell shares of commercial real estate assets without blocking through the LEX platform operated by Nasdaq.
While the focus is currently on commercial real estate, according to the CEO, the company is building the platform to provide liquidity for other asset classes Drew Sterrett.
“We are really an infrastructure platform,” said Sterrett in an interview with Crunchbase News. “An infrastructure and technology platform.”
LEX started in commercial real estate because that is Sterrett’s background, he said. The CEO worked for a private equity firm and structured commercial real estate deals but was unable to close a PE deal and invest in real estate. Sterrett noted that commercial real estate was one of the oldest asset classes, but it was extremely illiquid.
“We had artificial intelligence funds before we had real estate and commercial real estate funds,” said Sterrett.
The company hopes to one day move beyond commercial real estate to other asset classes such as income agreements, farmland and private equity. LEX plans to use the new funds to invest in the company’s technology and expand the team, which currently has about 25 employees and may grow to over 50 in the next year, Sterrett said.
Venture-backed commercial real estate startups raised nearly $ 379 million in funding in 2020, according to preliminary Crunchbase data, while VC-backed real estate startups raised more than $ 333 million. Fintech, on the other hand, raised more than $ 26 billion.
One of the investors in the round is the managing partner of WatermanClark Ric Clark, Tim Callahan, Paul Hastings Partner Marty Edelman, Kawawa Capital, Inertia Ventures, Modern Venture Partners, Subversive Capital, Gaingels, Two lanterns venture partners, RAJ Capital and Cardinals of Arizona Player DeAndre Hopkins.
“The LEX platform offers a creative solution to some of the industry’s longstanding problems, and offers institutional and retail investors new tools to diversify their portfolios. At the same time, it offers real estate owners a unique model of access to liquidity, ”said former Brookfield veteran Clark of WatermanClark said in a statement.
LEX recently raised $ 4 million in seed capital from Greycroft and Thor shares in October 2019. The new round brings the company’s total funding to more than $ 10 million.
Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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