This startup is bringing AI-Powered crowdfunding to land development projects.

Crowdfunding has been around for a long time. When a city sells bonds in order to finance a new bridge or a new tunnel, they are essentially crowdfunding the project. The city gets the new bridge and the investors who bought the bonds get a nice return on their investment.  

The internet put the idea on steroids and today pretty much everyone is aware of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Meanwhile, companies such as Crowdstreet and Fundrise have established real estate crowdfunding as a very successful model, bringing the benefits of real estate investing to people everywhere.  

Now a new startup in Toronto, Crowda, is bringing the concept to a very specific segment: real estate development projects. With these projects, a piece of land is purchased and then an expert firm takes it through the process of evaluation, planning, development and servicing, based on the highest and best use as well local codes and regulations. Once complete, it is sold to a builder for construction. Land development can be a very attractive investment because the returns are excellent and the liquidity horizon is shorter than many other types of real estate. Investors can benefit from real estate appreciation as well as the value added during the development process. But putting together financing for these projects is still largely done the old-fashioned way– finding local investors, with a lot of paperwork and manual processes.  

Crowda is bringing new innovation to the process. It is an AI-powered real estate development crowdfunding platform that connect investors everywhere with land development projects anywhere. Most importantly, the platform helps make everything in the process more efficient and less costly — from due diligence to funding to liquidity. Real estate crowdfunding was an $11 billion market in 2021, and it’s expected to grow to $250 billion by 2030. It’s a huge market, growing at an extraordinary pace. Crowda intends to be a leader in this sector, laser-focused on the unique advantages of land development projects.  

Source: Bret Waters, 14 Feb 2023 https://bretwaters.medium.com/this-startup-is-bringing-crowdfunding-to-land-development-projects-d1d6040c2342