This Japanese Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform Wants to Make a Splash in a US IPO

Welcome back GowerCrowders! I’ve got a lot of good stuff for you today.

I’ve got two new deals to highlight- CrowdStreet’s Royal Palm Beach Luxury Apartments and an in-depth look at a deal on RealtyMogul offering 20.2% Target IRR Active Adult Living Development Opportunity,  a deal that gives investors the ability to access the booming American retirement sector. 

In more general news, we’ll look at Japanese real estate crowdfunding firm SYLA, which is readying a plan for a $15 million IPO. We’ll also check out a recent investment raise on Wefunder for real estate investment platform Small Change and look at a new podcast, which features a discussion I had with real estate crowdfunding luminary Eve Picker.

Let’s get into it.

New Crowdfunding Platform Deals

A project I’ve covered in past newsletters, CrowdStreet’s Royal Palm Beach Luxury Apartments, is now open for funding. A quick refresher: The Royal Palm Beach Luxury Apartments is a Palm Beach, FL, multifamily development that offers that whitest of white whales, monthly cashflow through a return structure. 

It is led by an enterprise sponsor, Lynd Living, that is co-investing almost 60% of project equity. CrowdStreet and Lynd Living hosted a webinar for the project on December 8, which you can access here. Offers for this project are due January 4, 2023, or until it is fully subscribed. Get the nitty-gritty details for The Royal Palm Beach Luxury Apartments, here.

The US- along with many other developed countries- is graying, with 75 million baby boomers expected to retire by 2030. While the effects and consequences of an aging population are varied, one certainty is that we will continue to see a tremendous uptick in senior-related services, like healthcare, physical rehabilitation, and active living and retirement communities.

If you want to take advantage of this sea-change in American life, you might want to consider investing in this deal on RealtyMogul- a ground-up development of a 148-unit multifamily active adult living community that sits in suburban Atlanta. 

The project, Park Place, is being sponsored by Highlands Residential, an experienced developer in the senior living and Active Lifestyle space. The deal’s principals currently have $777 million in their current portfolio, with an average stabilized occupancy of 97%. The deal has a target IRR of 20.2% and a target equity multiple of 1.66x. Take a look for yourself on RealtyMogul, here.

General Crowdfunding Industry News

Japanese real estate crowdfunding platform SYLA Technologies recently filed proposed terms for a $15 million USD IPO. The Tokyo-based firm gives investors the ability to access the Japanese real estate markets via individual asset investment and management, corporate and institutional asset investment and management, and other brokerage, leasing, management, and crypto activities. 

They currently have over 180,000 registered members and are currently benefiting from the robust Japanese real estate marketing, which is being upheld by a “flight to safety” out of high-flying equities and other more volatile investment classes. Head over to Seeking Alpha to get the full scoop on the proposed SYLA Technologies real estate crowdfunding platform IPO.

Crowdfunding Platform Updates

Real estate platform Small Change is seeking to raise growth capital and utilizing Wefunder to find new investors. They hope to raise as much as $1.07 million via a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) with a valuation cap of $9 million. 

According to information provided in the offering document, Small Change plans to use a portion of the funds to set up a Reg A+ offering- an exemption that gives issuers the ability to raise up to $75 million. Small Change currently offers securities under Reg CF and allows projects with a Reg D 506c offering, and recently reported that they also have the ability to list projects under Reg A+. Get the rest of the story on Crowdfund Insider, here.

Multimedia Links (Videos, Podcasts, etc.)

Our last stop is a conversation I had with a friend of the show, Small Change Founder and CEO Eve Picker.  Eve is a regular guest on “The Real Estate Crowdfunding Podcast,” but I decided to switch it up and make an appearance on her show, the ever-insightful “Rethink Real Estate. For Good.” 

We talked about the world of real estate crowdfunding, my books, and the strange journey and deep dives I’ve been lucky to undertake with different players in the real estate crowdfunding world, including CEOs and CIOs, investors, attorneys, and so many others. You can listen to my talk with Eve on her website, here. 

That’s all for now- but I’ll be back next week with new deals, platform updates, crowdfunding news stories, and more. Until then!