Realty Mogul raises $9M for crowdfunding real estate

"If someone is looking for direct real estate investment, be it an apartment buolding in their local community, or a retail shopping center or an office bulinding in a market they are bullish around, we have provide opportunities in various investments,"  Jilliene Helman, the CEO and co-founder of Realty Mogul, told me in an interview. "Customers learn very detailed information about each tranaction."

The new money, she told me, will go toward "bringing more dealflow to the marketplace."

"A lot of companies will talk about democraztizing access to capital," Helman said. "We will scour the country to find dealflow for our customers."

The money will also go toward investing in the technology, including additions to the investor dashboard with the "objective to make it simple and streamlined."

Lastly, the money will also go toward hiring people on the "client care" side of the business.

"We pride ourselves on picking up phone at any time, but that requires ppl," said Helman. "We want to make sure that we give investors the best customer service."

How many people will be hired depends on how fast the company grows.

While others companies might be trying to give investors similar opportunities, there are two ways that Realty Mogul stands out:

First, it is currently the largest by number of properties, and it operates in 14 different states. Second is its focus on income and cash flow.

"We have returned more capital than any other crowdfunding company," said Helman. – "We are focused on cashflow, which reduces risk, and helps investors get cash out of the system."

In the end, Realty Mogul has a big vision: "to change the way the world invests in real estate."

Helman told me that she realizes that this sounds pretty lofty to most people, so the company is going to "take it one bite at a time," and "walk before we run."

"We have a model whereby any consumer can come and make an investment immediately," she said. "This is important in building the user experience because the way it used to be you had to hang out at the country club and be a part of old boys network. You couldn’t do it from your living room and people had never had access before."

Now the company is giving those people a chance to participate in a way they never could before. 

So far, the Beverly Hills-based Realty Mogul has over 7,000 users. Individual investors in the Realty Mogul marketplace have invested $14.6 million in 58 properties in 14 states. In the last year alone, Realty Mogul underwrote over $1.5 billion in real estate.