Maintaining a $1.7 billion-per-quarter fundraising rate might seem like a bit much to expect from the local tech ecosystem, but PeerStreet's Series B might be evidence that LA's strong Q1 wasn't an anomaly after all.
This morning, the real estate tech startup closed a $29.5 million investment with plans to hire aggressively.
The El Segundo-based company offers a marketplace that connects lenders with investors, offering real estate lenders access to global capital markets that were previously difficult to enter. In four years, the company has funded over $900 million in loan volume.
The Series B was led by World Innovation Lab, and included participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Thomvest, Colchis Capital and Felicis Ventures, as well as new investors Solon Mack and Navitas Capital.
“We’re using the transformative potential of technology to help people access investments in real estate debt in a way never done before,” said COO and Co-founder Brett Crosby, who also co-founded Google Analytics, in a statement. “At the same time, our model helps lenders get more capital to deserving borrowers who are directly improving the aging US housing stock and building up communities.”
In November 2016, the company raised a $15 million Series A on the heels of tremendous year-over-year growth. Since then, the company has integrated with three major personal finance platforms, doubled its volume of loans funded and built out its suite of tools and analytics for lenders. In January, the company was named to Built In LA's 50 Startups to Watch in 2018.
“We believe PeerStreet’s approach of partnering with local, private real estate lenders is the optimal solution to create new liquidity for the existing real estate finance ecosystem,” said World Innovation Lab Venture Partner Steve Pretre. “This approach lowers the marketplace cost for loan acquisition, and, most importantly, taps into the lenders’ unique knowledge of local markets and borrowers. This directly benefits investors by lowering both marketplace costs and loan risk. The result is a more efficient and effective marketplace for all parties.”
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