Dallas-based fintech startup Nada announced Wednesday that it raised $8.1 million in seed funding for its platform that allows everyday investors to get a cut of the $27 trillion home equity market.
Nada was founded three years ago by CEO John Green and CFO Mauricio Delgado. The platform, which has already processed transactions from more than 1,500 users, gives retail investors access to real estate investment opportunities that were previously only available to accredited investors, according to the company.
Nada has developed an investment product called Cityfunds that allows retail investors to buy and sell shares of the home equity market in seven cities, including Austin, Dallas and Miami. The shares, which can be purchased for as little as $250, allow users to invest in the company’s portfolio of single-family homes, similar to an index fund on the stock market.
The Cityfunds investment portfolio includes single-family homes that Nada has acquired as well as homes that it has partially invested in through its Homeshares program. Homeowners that agree to participate in the Homeshares program can choose to cash out their home equity through a Nada debit card, which the company said will be the first real estate-backed debit card.
“Homeowners cannot access home equity without being burdened with more debt and individual investors lack access to real estate investment products,” Green said in a statement. “Nada’s business model solves both these problems by bringing liquidity to homeowners and real estate access to all investors.”
The seed funding round was led by LiveOak Venture Partners with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Capital Factory, 7BC Venture Capital, Sweater Ventures, LFG Ventures, Badra Capital and Stonks Fund.
Nada intends to use the funds to expand its investment products, develop a trading platform, launch its mobile app and release its real estate-backed debit card.
In addition to the funding news, Nada also announced that Krishna Srinivasan, LiveOak’s founding partner, and Jesse Stein, co-founder of Everyrealm, a metaverse investment and development company, will join its board of directors.
“Democratizing access to real estate for investors while enabling homeowners to unlock the intrinsic value in home equity using debit cards is a complex problem that sits at the confluence of many large opportunities,” Srinivasan said in a statement.
